tihvaxy  of  ^he  theological  ^^minary 

PRINCETON  •  NEW  JERSEY 


BX  9211  .P5  S42  1881 

Dales,  J.  B. 

A  memorial  discourse 


f-J 


/'' 


A 


MEMORIAL  DISCOURSE: 


1830-1840-1880. 


REV.  J.  B.  DALES,  D.  D., 


PASTOR  OF 


PHILADELPHIA 


Delivered  Januiry  2d,   188 1. 


PHILADELPHIA,  PA.: 
Edward  Pattkson,  Printer,  No.  i8  South  Third  Street. 


Philadelphia,  January  8,  1881. 
Rev.  J.  B.  Dales,  D.  D. 

Dear  Sir  :  The  committee  appointed  by  the  annual  congregational 
meeting  on  January  3,  to  take  steps  to  properly  celebrate  the  fiftieth 
anniversary  of  our  church  and  the  fortieth  anniversary  of  your  pastorate, 
would  respectfully  ask  of  you  the  manuscript  of  the  memorial  sermon 
preached  by  you  on  Sabbath  morning  last,  with  a  view  to  its  publication. 

James  Moore, 
Wm.  Arrott, 
Jos.  D.  McKee, 
Jas.  D.  Ferguson, 
Jas.   p.  Murphy, 

Committee. 


Philadelphia,  January  10,  188 1. 

Messrs.  Moore,  Arrott,  McKee,  and  others. 

Gents  :  I  very  cheerfully  send  herewith  the  manuscript  of  the  dis- 
course delivered  by  me  on  January  2,  as  you  have  requested  it  for  pub- 
lication, and  I  have  taken  the  liberty  of  adding  some  items  of  interest 
to  our  congregation  and  the  occasion. 

With  sincere  regard,  I  am  yours, 

J.  B.  Dales. 


A  MEMORIAL  DISCOURSE. 


Deut.  via.  2. — "Thou  shalt  remember  all  the  way  which  the  Lord 
THY  God  led  thee  these  forty  years." 


Scarcely  anything  ever  seems  to  be  a  more  marked  char- 
acteristic and  duty  alike  of  all  true  religion,  than  that  of 
keeping  in  memory  and  from  time  to  time  manifesting 
proper  gratitude  at  the  dealings  of  God  with  his  people 
in  the  ways  of  his  providence  and  grace.  So,  doubt- 
less, thought  the  man  after  God's  own  heart,  when  in  some 
of  his  sweetest  and  most  exalting  strains  he  cried,  in  the 
77th  Psalm,  "  I  will  remember  the  years  of  the  right 
hand  of  the  Most  High.  I  will  remember  the  works  of  the 
Lord:  surely  I  will  remember  thy  wonders  of  old.  I  will 
meditate  also  of  all  thy  work,  and  talk  of  thy  doings."  So, 
more  than  a  thousand  years  later  evidently  thought  David's 
infinitely  greater  Son,  when  he  instituted  that  holy  ordi- 
nance of  the  Lord's  Supper,  which  shall  stand  to  the  end  of 
the  world  the  great  memorial  ordinance  of  the  Church  of 
God,  and  said,  "This  do  in  remembrance  of  me."  And  so 
must  the  great  Law  Giver  of  Israel  have  understood  and  felt 
when  under  the  immediate  direction  of  God,  and  in 
the    presence    of    the   more    than    two   millions    of    the 


4  SECOND  UNTIED  PRESBVTKRIAN  CHURCH 

children  of  Israel  as  they  had  been  brought  up  from  small 
beginnings  and  watched  over  and  wonderfully  helped  of 
God,  until  they  had  now  become  a  great  people,  and 
were  about  to  go  in  and  take  possession  of  the  long  prom- 
ised land,  he  then  said  to  every  one  of  them:  "Thou  shalt 
remember  all  the  way  which  the  Lord  thy  God  led  thee 
these  forty  years,"  showing  thus,  by  example  and  com- 
mandment alike,  that  gratitude  or  a  grateful  remembering 
and  making  mention  of  the  Lord's  doings  in  the  past,  is 
ever  a  great  standing  duty  of  the  Church  and  the  children 
of  God. 

And  never,  in  our  own  case,  atleast.has  there  been  a  year 
of  more  marked  and,  in  many  respects,  more  interesting 
and  important  anniversary^  events  than  the  year  1880, — a 
year  in  which  the  13th  of  January  was  the  fortieth  anni- 
versary^ of  the  call  addressed  to  your  pastor;  the  4th  of 
June  was  the  fortieth  anniversary  of  his  solemn  ordination 
to  the  ministry^  and  installation  by  the  Presbytery  in  this 
pastoral  charge;  the  27th  of  September  was  the  fiftieth 
anniversary^  of  the  adoption  of  a  charter  for  an  incorpora- 
tion of  the  congregation;  the  4th  of  October  was  the 
fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  organization  of  the  church 
by  the  reception  of  members  and  the  election  of  Ruling 
Elders;  and  the  13th  of  December  was  the  fortieth  anni- 
versary of  the  entering  of  the  congregation  at  length  into 
that  dear  old  church  edifice  on  Thirteenth  street  above 
Market,  where,  in  the  course  of  the  fifteen  years  that  fol- 
lowed, it  may  be  believed  many  were  made,  by  the 
grace  of  God,  to  have  their  spiritual  birth,  while  of  it  many 
were  often  led  to  say,  in  the  fullness  of  their  holy  joy  : 
"  This  is  none  other  but  the  House  of  God,  and  this  is  the 
gate  of  Heaven." 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  MEMORIAL.  5 

Such  are  some  of  the  marked  anniversary  days  that 
have  signalized  the  old  year  that  has  just  closed,  and  that 
calling  for  a  grateful  remembering  of  the  leading  hand  of 
a  covenant  God,  during  the  long  years  that  have  passed, 
make  it  appropriate  forme  to  invite  attention  this  morning 
to  some  of  the  little  less  than  wonderful  things  that 
have  marked  these  many  years  in  the  history  of  this 
church  and  of  your  pastor's  settlement  in  this  charge. 
The  presenting  of  this  in  a  connected  story  would  be  far 
too  long  for  this  service.  It  is  proposed  rather  to  take  up 
the  more  prominent  things  that  have  characterized  the 
whole. 

I. THE    HISTORY 

of  the  congregation  and  the  pastorate.  In  the  month  of 
May,  1822,  a  union  was  nominally  consummated  in  this  city 
between  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  the  United  States 
and  the  Associate  Reformed  Church.  By  this  act,  all  the 
congregations  of  the  latter  body  in  this  city  were  merged 
in  the  former,  and  being  thus  without  ministers  and  congre- 
gations, the  denomination  here  was  practically  blotted  out. 
Generally,  however,  elsewhere  that  act  was  not  sanctioned 
or  in  any  way  accepted.  The  Associate  Reformed  Church 
still  lived,  and  as  persons  who  had  been  reared  in  it,  and 
who  loved  it  as  being  in  its  principles  and  usages  the  church 
of  their  fathers,  and  in  their  estimation,  in  accordance  with 
the  word  and  the  will  of  God,  came  to  this  city  and  in  steadily 
increasing  numbers  fixed  here  their  homes,  they  desired  a 
church  of  this  denomination.  They  found  churches  of  various 
other  denominations  around  them,  but  they  felt  the  want 
of  the  church  of  their  love.  Prominent  in  this  feeling  and 
first  in  the  movement  that  followed  for  a  new  church  was 
a  Mrs.  Margaret  McLandburgh  and  Mr.  Jas.  P.  Ramsey, 


6  SECOND  UNITED  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

her  son-in-law,  who  had  removed  to  this  city  from  Chili- 
cothe,  Ohio.  Largely  at  their  instigation  and  that  of  a 
few  others,  among  whom  were  several  young  men  who 
had  come  to  the  city  as  clerks  and  employees  in  various 
kinds  of  business,  steps  were  taken  in  1828  forfoundinga 
church  of  the  faith  and  worship  they  so  fondly  wished. 
That  movement  beoan  and  was  carried  out  in  fervent 
prayer;  one  of  the  petitions  often  being,  as  one  of  the 
actors  in  it  long  after  related,  that  if  this  movement  was 
not  of  God,  and  would  not  be  for  his  glory,  he  would  not 
allow  it  to  succeed. 

It  should  be  stated  that  as  almost  all  who  were  inter- 
ested originally  in  this  effort  were  from  the  West,  they 
first  looked  to  that  quarter  for  preaching  and  counsel,  and 
they  did  not  look  in  vain.  The  late  Drs.  Joseph  Kerr  and 
John  Riddell,  of  Pittsburg  and  its  vicinity,  gave  them 
encouraging  correspondence ;  Rev.  Dr.  Claybaugh,  of 
Chilicothe,  Ohio,  from  whose  congregation  Mrs.  McLand- 
burgh  came,  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  Alexander  Sharp,  of  Big 
Spring,  the  early  church  of  William  McKee,  and  perhaps 
others  of  the  company,  visited  them,  and  greatly  edified 
them  by  their  preaching.  The  late  Rev.  Henry  Connelly, 
then  but  recently  entered  into  the  ministry,  was  with  them 
some  time  during  the  summer  of  1830,  and  by  his  hopeful 
and  indomitable  spirit  did  much  to  prepare  the  way  for  a 
permanent  organization.  But  while  the  first  movement  was 
thus  under  the  auspices  of  the  Associate  Reformed  Synod 
of  the  West,  yet  being  more  directly  in  the  East,  the  con- 
gregation was  transferred  to  the  Associate  Reformed  Pres- 
bytery of  New  York.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Mcjimsey  was  ap- 
pointed to  visit  it  and  take  steps  for  formally  organizing  a 
church  as  soon  as  it  might  be  found  proper. 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  MEMORIAL.  7 

About  two  years  passed  in  these  movements.  At 
length  it  was  felt  the  time  had  come  to  act,  and  at  seven 
and  a  half  o'clock,  Monday  evening,  September  27,  1830, 
a  little  band  of  persons  who  were  thus  anxious  for  an 
Associate  Reformed  Church,  met  in  the  Classical  Institute, 
in  this  city.  Jas.  P.  Ramsey  was  called  to  the  chair,  and 
Wm.  McKee  was  appointed  clerk.  After  much  deliberation,. 
a  charter  which  had  been  prepared  by  Mr.  Connelly,  who 
was  then  supplying  the  place,  was  proposed  for  a  legal 
incorporation.  One  week  later,  Monday  evening,  Oc- 
tober 4,  1830,  the  congregation  met  again,  when  the 
Rev.  Dr.  John  McJImsey  was  present.  At  that  meeting 
the  charter  was  adopted,  trustees  were  elected,  and  Dr. 
Mcjimsey  proceeded  according  to  appointment  to  organize 
the  church.  Five  persons  were  received  into  member- 
ship, viz  :  Jas.  P.  Ramsey,  Robert  Dunlap,  Agnes  Dunlap, 
his  wife,  Mary  Dunlap,  and  Margaret  Dunlap.  Messrs. 
Ramsey  and  Dunlap  were  chosen  Elders.  The  former 
was  ordained  and  installed  in  the  chargre  ;  the  latter,  havine 
been  an  Elder  in  the  Associate  Reformed  Church  at  Pitts- 
burg, was  installed.  Thus  the  infant  church  was  formally 
started  on  its  course,  under  the  name  of  the  Associate 
Reformed  Church  of  Philadelphia. 

Time  passed  on  again,  and  on  Wednesday  evening, 
July  2,  1834,  Mr.  John  Forsyth,  who  had  been  invited 
as  early  as  the  previous  autumn  to  supply  the  vacancy, 
and  been  called  in  the  meantime  to  be  the  pastor,  was 
ordained  to  the  ministry  and  installed  in  the  church.  Rev. 
Dr.  McCarrell,  of  Newburgh,  N.  Y.,  preaching  from  2 
Cor.  v.  II,  and  the  Rev.  James  Lillie,  at  that  time  pastor 
of  the  Franklin  Street  Associate  Reformed  Church,  N.  Y., 
delivering  the  charges  to  the  pastor  and  the  congregation.. 


8  SECOND  UNITED  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

Both  of  these  excellent  ministers  of  Christ  entered  years 
ago  into  their  rest. 

Under  this  its  first  shepherd,  the  congregation  was 
much  encouraged,  and  projected  and  did  much  good 
work.  But  it  was  doomed  to  an  early  trial.  In  an 
enfeebled  state  of  heakh,  Mr.  Forsyth  was  compelled  in  a 
little  over  two  years  to  demit  the  charge,  and  preaching 
his  farewell  sermon  on  the  third  Sabbath  of  December, 
1836,  the  church  became  vacant  again,  and  was  made  to 
pass  through  various  trials  and  difficulties  until  January  13, 
1840,  when  your  present  pastor,  who  was  then  a  student 
in  the  last  year  of  his  course  at  the  Theological  Seminary- 
was  called,  and  on  Thursday  evening,  the  4th  of  the  next 
June,  was  ordained  and  installed  in  the  charge,  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Forsyth,  his  predecessor,  preaching  the  sermon  from 
Phillipians  iv,  i  ;  Rev.  Dr.  McCarrell  delivering  the  charge 
to  the  pastor,  and  the  Rev.  David  L.  Proudfit  to  the 
people. 

It  was  an  occasion  of  very  deep  interest.  Many 
friends  cheered  both  the  church  and  its  young  pastor 
with  their  presence,  and  an  affecting  and  fruitful  God- 
speed was  devoutly  given  to  minister  and  people  as  they 
entered  together  upon  the  duties  and  responsibilities  of 
their  new  relation.  A  week  from  the  following  Sabbath 
the  first  communion  season  with  the  new  pastor  was  en- 
joyed. Five  persons  were  admitted,  viz:  Mrs.  Jane  Fer- 
guson, Mrs.  Margaret  J.  King,  Andrew  McFeeters,  An- 
drew Mitchell,  and  Lucy  Mitchell,  his  wife,  all  of  whom 
have  passed  from  our  midst,  except  the  first,  who,  in  hon- 
ored age  still  survives  among  us  her  husband,  who  for 
many  years  was  one  of  the  purest  members  aod  most 
faithful  Elders  that  ever  occupied  a  place  in  this  church. 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  MEMORIAL.  g 

At  that  first  communion  thirty-seven  persons  of  the  pre- 
vious membership  of  the  church  sat  down  at  the  Lord's  table, 
only  one  of  whom,  Miss  Margaret  Gordon,  is  still  among 
us,  in  uninterrupted  membership  to  this  day.  It  was  a 
joyous  occasion  when,  amid  pleasant  tokens  of  the  Mas- 
ter's presence  with  us,  the  Rev.  Dr.  D.  C.  McLaren 
(now  the  oldest  minister  but  one  in  our  United  Pres- 
byterian Church),  cheered  our  hearts  on  that  beautiful 
Sabbath  morning  as  he  preached  of  the  "  Bright  and 
Morning  Star."     Such  is  the  early  history  of  this  church. 

II.- ITS  NAMES^ 

Names  are  significant,  and  often  there  is  much  of  his- 
torical interest  in  them.  So  of  this  church.  It  was  called 
Fi'rs^,  the  Associate  Reformed  Church,  because,  belonging 
to  an  ecclesiastical  body  that  came  into  existence  on  June 
13,  1782,  when  a  union  was  consummated  at  Pequea,  Pa., 
between  the  large  part  of  the  Associate  and  Reformed 
Presbyterian  Churches.  The  body  thus  organized  com- 
bined the  names  of  the  uniting  churches,  and  was  styled 
the  Associate  Reformed  Church. 

Second,  United  Presbyterian,  because  merged  with  its 
denomination  into  a  body  that  was  organized  May  26, 
1858,  in  the  city  of  Pittsburg,  Pa.  By  the  union  of  the 
Associate  and  Associate  Reformed  Churches,  that  body 
was  appropriately  denominated  the  United  Presbyterian 
Church,  and  in  this  particular  congregation  the  title  was 
prophetic  of  the  very  marked  spirit  of  unity  and  har- 
mony that  have  ever  characterized  it — a  church  that  is 
Presbyterian  in  its  government  and  faith,  and  United 
Presbyterian  in  its  history,  its  present  denomination,  its 
principles,  its  leading  characteristics,  and  its  spirit. 


lO  SECOND  UNITED  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

III. OFFICERS. 

First,  Pastors. — In  the  course  of  the  fifty  years  of  Its 
history  this  congregation  has  had  only  two  pastors.  The 
first  of  these  was  Mr.  John  Forsyth,  who  was  born  In  the 
city  of  Newburgh,  N.  Y.,  graduated  at  Rutgers  College, 
pursued  a  thorough  course  of  theological  study  under  the 
Rev.  Dr.  McCarrell,  at  the  Seminary  of  the  Associate 
Reformed  Church  in  his  native  place,  and  afterwards 
passed  a  valuable  season  of  study  in  the  Divinity  Halls  of 
Scotland.  Returning  then  to  this  country,  and  de- 
clining flattering  Invitations  which  were  extended  to  him 
to  labor  in  other  places,  he  accepted  a  call  from  this  con- 
gregation, and  was  settled  here.  It  was  his  first  charge. 
The  dew  of  his  youth  was  upon  him.  Bright  prospects 
were  before  him  and  the  congregation,  and  much  was  antic- 
ipated from  his  pastorate,  when,  under  a  threatened  affec- 
tion of  the  lungs  he  was  compelled  to  retire.  That  pas- 
torate was  thus  brief;  but  after  the  lapse  of  over  forty 
years  its  memory  Is  an  evergreen  still  in  the  minds  of 
those  who  enjoyed  it  and  are  yet  remaining,  and  no  man 
Is  ever  more  welcome  still  In  this  pulpit  than  he  who  was 
thus  Its  first  pastor. 

IV. PLACES  OF   WORSHIP. 

These  have  been  various.  The  first  place  of  any  for- 
mal public  worship  was  the  school-room  of  the  Classical 
Institute  on  George  street — now  Sansom — above 
Eleventh.  The  second  was  the  lecture-room  of  the 
Franklin  Institute,  on  Seventh  street  above  Chestnut.  The 
third  was  the  small  church  edifice  on  Pearl  street  below 
Eleventh — a  building  that  had  been  erected  by  the  Grace 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church — and  that  was  secured  for 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  MEMORIAL.  I  I 

the  benefit  of  our  congregation  by  two  of  our  members 
generously  becoming  responsible  for  it.  In  that  building 
your  pastor  preached  his  first  sermon  for  this  congrega- 
tion August  7th,  1839,  from  the  words:  "Being  justified 
freely  by  his  grace  through  the  redemption  that  is  in 
Christ  Jesus,"  and  there,  like  his  predecessor,  he  was 
ordained  and  installed.  The  fourth  place  was  the  church 
on  Thirteenth  street  above  Market,  to  which  the  conere- 
gation  came  with  great  joy  December  13th,  1840,  when 
your  pastor  lectured  in  the  morning  from  the  Eighth 
Psalm,  and  in  the  evening  preached  from  the  cheering 
(and  it  was  devoudy  hoped,  so  far  as  our  own  church  es- 
pecially was  concerned),  the  prophetic  words  in  Ezekiel 
xlviii.  35:  "The  name  of  the  city  from  that  day  shall  be 
the  Lord  is  there."  In  the  afternoon  the  late  excellent 
Rev.  Dr.  John  Black,  of  the  Reformed  Presbyterian 
Church,  Pittsburg,  preached  from  the  comforting  words, 
John  xiv.  27  :  "  Peace  I  leave  with  you  ;  my  peace  I  give 
unto  you." 

In  this  memorable  house  of  worship  the  congregation 
remained  until  the  communicants  became  so  numerous 
that  they  filled  the  entire  audience  chamber  except  the 
galleries.  The  place  was  thus  felt  by  all  to  be  too  strait 
for  us.  After  much  deliberation  and  prayer,  it  was  at 
first  resolved  to  remodel  on  that  site,  but  afterwards  it 
was  agreed  to  build  on  another  and  more  eligible  spot. 
Accordingly,  on  the  first  Sabbath  in  July,  1855,  your  pas- 
tor preached  the  last  sermon  in  that  old  church  from  the 
words  (Gen.  vi.  3):  "My  spirit  shall  not  always  strive 
with  man  ;"  and  thence  in  the  interval  of  buildine,  the 
congregation  worshipped  for  nearly  two  years,  first  in 
National  Hall  and  then  in  Concert  Hall,  until  April  2 2d, 


12  SECOND  UNITED  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

1857,  when  with  glad  hearts  and  voices  we  came  to  the 
lecture  room  of  this  new  and  noble  bulldinor  on  Race 
street  near  Sixteenth.  The  first  sermon  preached  here 
was  by  your  pastor,  from  the  words  (Psalm  xciii.  5): 
"  Holiness  becometh  thine  house,  O  Lord,  forever." 
On  the  sixth  of  the  following  September  we  were  per- 
mitted, under  the  leading  of  the  good  hand  of  God, 
to  enter  this  large  and  well-finished  audience  chamber  of 
the  building  of  our  long  anxieties,  prayers  and  earnest 
efforts  ;  your  pastor  preaching  in  the  morning  from  the 
words  :  "  The  Lord  hath  done  great  things  for  us, 
whereof  we  are  glad ;"  Rev.  Dr.  J.  T.  Cooper  in  the 
afternoon,  from  one  of  the  sublime  visions  of  John  in 
Revelation ;  and  in  the  evening  the  Rev.  Dr.  James 
Prestley,  one  of  his  most  eloquent  discourses  from  the 
words:  "In  all  places  where  I  have  recorded  my  name^ 
I  will  come  unto  thee  and  bless  thee." 

Thus  the  lone  tenting^  were  tabernacled  at  last.  Seldom 
does  a  purer  or  greater  joy  swell  the  hearts  of  any  people 
than  as  many  of  you  may  remember  did  ours  when 
literally  "Then  was  our  mouth  filled  with  laughter  and 
our  tongue  with  singing,"  while  in  a  most  marked  manner 
there  was  manifested  a  disposition  on  the  part  of  the 
members  of  the  church  to  make  fresh  consecration  of 
themselves  to  God — to  tell  to  all  around  how  great  things 
he  had  done  for  us, — and  to  have  our  new  and  inviting 
house  of  worship  be  a  house  of  prayer  for  all  people. 

Hut  it  would  not  be  proper  to  leave  this  part  of  our 
history  without  a  more  particular  account  of  the  old 
church  edifice  on  Thirteenth  street,  from  which  we  had 
come.  That  church  was  built  entirely  according  to  the 
will  of  Mrs.  Margaret  Duncan,  a  lady  who  emigrated  from 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  MEMORIAL.  j-j 

Scotland  and  settled  in  Philadelphia  considerably  over  a 
century  since.  Having  after  a  time  revisited  her  native 
land,  she  had  a  long  voyage  on  her  return.  The  inex- 
perienced captain  was  led  far  out  of  his  way.  The  pro- 
visions became  well  nigh  exhausted.  The  sailors  were 
worn  out  with  watching  and  toil.  The  ship  was  threatened 
with  certain  and  speedy  wreck  in  the  midst  of  the  angry 
sea.  In  that  hour  of  awful  peril,  Mrs.  Duncan  retired  to 
her  state-room,  spent  an  entire  day  in  fasting  and  prayer, 
and  then  in  the  spirit  of  Jacob  at  Bethel,  she  made  a  sol- 
emn vow  that  if  God  would  interpose  and  send  her  deliver- 
ance she  would,  if  ever  in  any  way  able,  build  a  house 
where  men  might  meet  to  worship  and  glorify  him.  Her 
vow  was  heard.  Her  prayer  was  answered.  God  did 
interpose.  Mrs.  Duncan  was  rescued.  Entering  at  once 
upon  business  on  her  landing,  she  was  successful,  and  when 
she  died,  November  i6th,  1802,  she  left  a  will  bequeath- 
ing a  lot  upon  which  she  devised  that  there  should  be  erected 
a  house  of  worship,  which  she  minutely  described.  She 
provided,  also,  in  proper  form,  all  the  money  that  would 
be  required  to  complete  it. 

This  will  was  faithfully  carried  out,  and  on  the  25th  of 
November,  18 1 5,  that  building  was  formally  opened  for  the 
worship  of  God,  the  late  Rev.  Dr.  James  Grey  officiating 
then  as  the  pastor  of  a  congregation  that  was  styled  the 
Second  Associate  Reformed  Church.  That  church  build- 
ing has  long  been  known  as  the  Vow  Church,  and  signally 
has  it  been  blessed.  Direcdy  or  indirectly,  no  less  than  ten 
different  churches  may  be  properly  said  to  have  sprung 
from  it  in  this  city,  and  its  influence  will  be  handed  down 
to  generations  still  in  the  future. 


14  SECOND  UNITED  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

In  Mrs.  Duncan's  will  the  one  only  absolute  proviso, 
in  addition  to  its  being  a  house  of  worship,  was  that  it 
should  be  the  property  of  a  church  belonging  to  the  de- 
nomination of  which  her  pastor,  the  late  Rev.  Dr.  Robert 
Annan,  was  at  that  time  a  minister.  That  denomination 
was,  as  was  well  known,  the  Associate  Reformed  ;  and  thus 
when  all  the  Associate  Reformed  Churches  of  the  city 
had  ceased  to  exist,  as  they  did  in  1822,  and  our  own 
church  was  organized  in  1830,  its  members  immediately 
claimed  this  building  as  being  theirs  by  the  will  of  Mrs, 
Duncan,  and  it  is  one  of  the  glories  of  our  history  as  a 
church,  that  at  length  all  suits  of  civil  law  were  withdrawn, 
and  on  our  payment  of  the  amount  expended  by  a  sister  con- 
gregation— the  congregation  now  of  the  Ninth  Presbyte- 
rian Church,  then  under  the  pastoral  care  of  the  late  Rev. 
Archibald  Tudehope — and  for  many  years  since  the  useful 
pastorate  of  the  Rev.  Wm.  Blackwood,  D.  D.,LL.  D. — we 
came  into  peaceful  and  happy  possession  of  it.  And 
when  it  became  under  the  enriching  blessing  of  God,  too 
small  for  its  great  purpose,  the  Legislature  of  the  State 
cheerfully  passed  an  act  authorizing  the  selling  of  it  and 
the  investing  of  the  avails  in  another  church  building,  and 
subject  entirely  and  forever  to  the  same  proviso.  That 
was  done,  and  this  church  buildinor  in  which  we  now 
worship  is  the  result.  Thus  here  is  still  the  Vow 
Church.  Through  it,  at  the  lapse  of  nearly  a  hundred 
years,  Margaret  Duncan,  though  dead,  yet  has  the  gospel 
preached.  Ever  may  we,  and  all  who  may  yet  worship 
within  these  walls,  prove  worthy  of  the  trust,  and  be  faith- 
ful to  it  as  those  who  properly  feel  that  theirs  is  the  church 
of  a  most  solemn  vow. 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  MEMORIAL.  I  5 

The  second  pastor  is  still  among  you — the  only  minister 
now  of  any  branch  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  who  was  liv- 
ing and  at  work  in  this  city  at  the  time  of  his  settlement, 
and  the  only  remaining  pastor  of  any  evangelical  church, 
with  the  exception  of  the  Rev.  Drs.  Morton  and  Suddards, 
of  the  Episcopal  Churches  of  St.  James  andGrace,both  of 
whom,  though  retaining  the  honored  rectorships  ot  their 
cbngregations,  have  for  many  years  had  assistants  that 
have  performed  almost  all  the  work  of  each  charge.  In 
this  respect  your  pastor  has  been  signally  honored  of  God 
thus  to  stand  now  so  largely  alone. 

Second,  Ruling  Elders. —  Since  the  first   organization 
of  the  church  in  1830,  twenty-nine  persons  have  been  called 
here  by  their  fellow-members,  and  solemnly  set  apart  to 
the  spiritual  oversight  of  tliis  church.     Of  these,  eighteen 
have  finished  their  course  on  earth,  and,  it  may  not  be 
doubted,  have  gone  up  higher  ;  five  are  removed  from  us, 
and  six  are  still  in  their  places  in  charge  of  the  church. 
With  all  of  these  men,  but  two,  Messrs.  Jas.  P.  Ramsey 
and  Jas.  Black,  your  pastor  was  long  personally  associated ; 
and  he  may  say,  as  this  day  he  does  with  a  warm  heart, 
they  were  from  first  to  last  good  and  noble  men — men 
o-enerally  without   hobbies  and  not  seeking  the  preemi- 
nence, and  such  that  almost  without  an  exception,  or  for 
even  a  moment  never  was  there  a  jar  or  division  in  any  of 
our  meetings,  or  a  word  that  could  offend  pastor  or  fellow- 
member.     In  all    the  vast    round    of   matters    that    have 
come  before  us  for  consideration  or  action  decisions  were 
almost  always  reached  by  a  real  and  substantial  agree- 
ment, and  often  without  a  formal  or  divided  vote.     Em- 
phatically your  pastor  has  had,  in  the  session  of  this  church, 
his  Aarons  and  Hurs;  and  the  members  of  the  congrega- 


I  6  SECOND  UNITED  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

tion  will  ever  do  well  to   remember  them  who  have  thus 
had  the  rule  over  them. 

Third.,  Trustees. — In  that  early  day  when  the  congre- 
gation sought  to  be  incorporated  September  27th  1830^ 
several  of  the  first  persons  that  were  elected  trustees  were 
found  to  be  ineligible  either  from  their  not  being  of  age, 
or  from  their  not  having  become  citizens.  The  first  six 
finally  secured  were  Robert  Dunlap,  J.  P.  Ramsey,  T.  H. 
Dickson,  A.  H.  Julian,  Wm.  McKee  and  S.  Sloan.  In  all, 
there  have  been  forty  different  men  called  to  this  office, 
and  entrusted  with  the  management  of  the  temporal  affairs 
of  the  congregation.  In  their  hands  have  been  largely 
the  procuring  of  our  meeting  places,  the  superintend- 
ing and  erecting  of  this  house  of  worship,  and  the  devis- 
ing and  raising  much  of  the  "means  of  carrying  on  the 
church's  operations.  In  all  these  things,  and  from  the  be- 
ginning, they  have  in  a  marked  degree  been  men  that  en- 
joyed the  confidence  of  their  fellow-members  in  the  church, 
and  have  ever,  in  a  most  gratifying  degree,  justified  that 
confidence.  Happily,  they  have  ever  been  without  strife 
or  bitterness  in  their  meetings ;  and  so  far  as  providing 
for  the  pastor  is  concerned,  have  always  largely  had  It, 
that  as  it  is  strictly  now  all  the  stipulated  dues  for  salary 
are  most  scrupulously  paid  on  the  very  day  promised. 

v.— WORK  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

This  has  been  various.  Only  three  forms  of  it  may  be 
specially  noticed : 

First. — /;/  extending  itself.  The  facilities  for  this  were 
for  several  years  at  first  exceedingly  limited.  With  no  fixed 
place  of  worship  up  to  1834,  and  with  only  a  brief  pastor- 
ate until  1840,  there  was  litde  opportunity  for  any  syste- 
matic or  enlarged  work  of  church  extension.     Yet  from 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  MEMORIAL. 


17 


the  very  beginning  the  members  of  this  church  did  what 
they  could.  Almost  immediately  after  the  present  pas- 
toral relation  was  formed,  plans  were  devised  to  gather  in 
hearers  to  the  preaching  and  sinners  to  Christ.  Strangers 
removing  to  the  city  were  cordially  invited  to  find  a 
spiritual  home  in  this  church.  Members  having  friends 
emigrating  hither  from  abroad,  as  large  numbers  thus 
came  for  many  years,  particularly  from  the  north  of  Ireland 
and  Scotland,  felt  themselves  constituted  special  commit- 
tees to  seek  them  out  and  bring  chem  to  the  church,  and 
as  the  persons  so  brought  found  a  worship  corresponding 
with  that  from  which  they  had  come  in  their  Fatherlands, 
and  met  with  a  cordial  welcome  at  the  hand  of  all,  they  felt 
themselves  at  home  at  once,  and  in  steadily  increasing 
numbers  united  with  the  church.  Not  unfrequently  prayer- 
meetings  were  opened  in  small  streets  where  many  people 
were  thrown  together,  and  members  of  the  church  would 
go  from  door  to  door,  and  invidng  all  to  these  meetings, 
would  be  rewarded  by  seeing  many  come.  Large  num- 
bers of  these  eventually  found  their  way  to  the  church  and 
became  earnest  and  useful  members  of  it.  One  woman 
thus  opened  her  house :  She  had  not  chairs  enough,  but 
borrowing  boards  from  a  neighboring  yard,  laid  them 
upon  boxes,  and  thus  forming  seats,  freely  invited  her 
neighbors  in.  Many  came.  At  the  first  meeting,  as  we 
sung  the  23d,  103d,  and  other  Psalms  dear  to  many  a  heart, 
and  had  exercises  corresponding  with  them,  it  was  ob- 
served that  several  persons  were  much  affected.  One  old 
woman  was  found  to  have  a  certificate  of  good  standing 
at  the  time  she  left  her  home  in  Ireland,  but  it  was  now 
seventeen  years  old.  When  asked  why  she  had  been  so 
long  without  a  church  home  or  membership  here,  she  men- 


1 8  SECOND  UNITED  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

tioned  that  when  she  first  came  she  felt  she  was  a 
stranger,  and  finding  the  worship  in  the  few  places  she 
attended  strange  to  her  generally,  she  lost  her  interest  in 
churches,  and  for  years  now  had  not  attended  any  church. 
But  now  the  long,  dormant  life  was  awakened.  She  soon 
came  to  the  church,  then  her  family,  and  at  length,  from 
that  one  meeting,  as  thus  begun,  twelve  families  came  into 
the  church  from  that  neighborhood. 

As  the  members  thus  increased,  and  by  doing  what 
they  could  were  incited  and  strengthened  to  make  greater 
efforts,  a  feeling  of  interest  was  awakened  on  behalf 
of  what  were  then  the  outer  portions  of  the  city,  and  a 
work  of  church  extension  was  begun,  in  which  the  con- 
gregation did  a  fruitful  work.  A  few  of  its  members 
living  in  a  locality  where  it  was  felt  a  church  was  needed, 
would  band  together  for  prayer-meetings  and  sometimes 
for  Sabbath-school  and  other  church  work,  and  at  length 
a  formal  organization  would  be  made.  Thus  on  the  24th 
of  August,  1844,  the  session  of  this  church  organized  as 
directed  by  the  Presbytery,  the  Second  Associate  Re- 
formed, now  the  Fourth  United  Presbyterian  Church,  and 
Rev.  J.  B.  Scouller  was  called  to  be  the  first  pastor.  Early 
in  the  following  year,  as  a  number  of  our  members  were  then 
living  in  Kensington,  and  only  a  few  Presbyterian  Churches 
of  any  name  were  at  that  time  in  all  that  now  populous 
section  of  the  city,  a  similar  organization  was  made  of  the 
Kensington  Associate  Reformed  —  now  Presbyterian 
Church — the  church  that  has  been  so  long  and  so  success- 
fully under  the  devoted  and  useful  pastoral  charge  of  the 
Rev.  W.  O.  Johnstone,  D.  D.  On  the  25th  of  February, 
1848,  the  Third  Associate  Reformed — now  Fifth  United 
Presbyterian  Church,  was  organized  near  Fairmount — Mr. 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  MEMORIAL.  1 9 

Joseph  Warden  from  our  session,  and  Mr.  Samuel  Patton 
from  our  church,  becoming  the  first  two  elders.  Years  later 
several  from  our  number  were  active  with  others  in  the 
prayer-meetings  and  Sabbath-school  work  that  resulted  in 
the  formation  of  the  Tenth  United  Presbyterian  Church, 
West  Philadelphia,  a  church  in  which  three  of  the  five 
worthy  men  that  compose  its  Session  at  the  present 
time,  viz :  Henry  Connell,  Daniel  Jarvis  and  Wm.  A. 
Stewart,  were  from  our  church.  At  the  organization 
February  ist,  1867,  of  the  North  United  Presbyterian 
Church,  which  happily  grew  out  of  a  mission  Sabbath- 
school  that  devoted  members  of  oitr  church  had  carried 
on  for  several  years,  thirteen  of  the  first  fifteen  members 
were  from  this  church,  and  also  all  the  brethren  that  for 
years  composed  its  session,  viz.:  Messrs.  Robert  T.  Elliott, 
Jas.  A.  Elliott  and  John  Spratt. 

Other  work  of  this  kind  was  also  done,  the  whole  hap- 
pily showing  not  only  that  Christians  labor  not  in  vain  in 
the  Lord,  but  also  how  much  may  be  accomplished  if 
only  people  will  earnestly  and  persistently  engage  in 
working  for  Christ  and  the  salvation  of  souls. 

Second.  Sabbath-schools. — In  consequence  of  its  having 
no  steady  place  of  meeting  for  several  years,  the  congre- 
gation was  compelled  to  forego  the  privilege  of  any  for- 
mal work  among  the  destitute  children  around.  No 
sooner,  however,  had  a  permanent  place  been  secured,  and 
without  waiting  for  the  settlement  of  a  pastor,  than  a 
united  meeting  of  the  Session  and  congregation  was  held 
April  23d,  1834,  for  earnest  inquiry  of  the  Lord,  and  of 
one  another,  as  to  what  should  be  done  in  reference  to  this 
great  work.  At  length  Mr.  William  McKee  moved  that 
a  Sabbath-school  should  be  formed.     The  resolution  was 


20  SECOND  UNITED  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

unanimously  adopted,  and  a  committee  of  seven — viz.: 
Alexander  H.  Julian,  Thos.  H.  Dickson,  David  Stuart, 
James  Ferguson,  Matthew  F.  Lind,  George  A.  D.  Clarke, 
Robert  Dunlap,  Jr.,  and  Wm.  McKee,  were  appointed  to 
establish  the  school.  One  of  the  ablest  and  most  active 
and  efficient  of  all  the  members  of  the  churcli  was  ap- 
pointed Superintendent.  Rules  and  regulations  were 
adopted,  teachers  were  secured,  and  the  school  was 
opened.  All  the  neighborhood  was  visited  for  children 
(the  men  taking  one  large  part  of  the  district  for  their  ex- 
ploration, and  the  ladies  the  other.)  All  classes  and  con- 
ditions of  persons  were  welcomed.  At  once  the  school 
became  a  helper  of  the  church,  and  soon  there  com- 
menced a  flowing  which  has  happily  never  ceased,  of  con- 
verts from  it  into  the  membership  of  the  church. 

That  Sabbath-school  has  continued  uninterruptedly  to 
this  day — a  period  of  nearly  forty-seven  years.  Nor  has 
it  been  in  vain.  As  nearly  as  can  be  ascertained,  an  ag- 
gregate of  over  three  hundred  teachers,  have  been  en- 
gaged in  its  work.  Something  over  fifteen  hundred  child- 
ren have  enjoyed  its  benefits.  Several  hundred  have 
come  from  it  into  the  membership  of  the  church.  Mem- 
bers have  come  from  it  to  be  elders  and  trustees  in  this 
and  other  churches,  while  eight  have  gone  from  it  into  the 
ministry  of  the  everlasting  gospel,  and  three  have  become 
missionaries  of  the  Cross  far  hence  among  the  heathen. 

Nor  is  this  school  relaxing  its  work.  At  present  about 
three  hundred  scholars  are  on  its  roll,  about  forty  teach- 
ers and  officers  are  in  charge  of  it,  and  durincr  the  last 
year  its  offerings  to  the  cause  of  Christ  amounted  to  over 
four  hundred  dollars. 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  MEMORIAL.  2  1 

Third.  Foreign  Missions. — Besides  doing-  home  mis- 
sion service  in  its  own  immediate  vicinity,  and  always 
through  the  appropriate  Board  for  the  work  of  the  church 
at  large  in  this  land,  this  congregation  has  also  ever  mani- 
fested interest  in  the  cause  of  Christ  among  the  heathen. 

Six  months  after  its  first  pastor  was  settled,  or  on  the 
fifth  of  January,  1835,  a  foreign  missionary  society  was 
organized.  The  monthly  concert,  or  a  meeting  on  the 
first  Monday  evening  of  each  month  for  prayer,  on  behalf 
of  foreign  missions,  was  formed.  Contributions  began  to 
be  systematically  made  for  carrying  on  the  great  work. 
Material  help  was  given  to  sustain 'the  late  Rev.  James 
McEwen,  as  a  missionary  in  India.  An  orphan  boy  in 
Northern  India,  to  whom  was  given  the  name  of  your 
pastor,  was  educated  from  your  funds,  and  has  been  for 
years,  as  he  is  still,  a  faithful  laborer  in  making  the  gospel 
known  to  his  benighted  countrymen. 

The  spirit  of  this  great  work  has  happily  continued  to 
this  day  in  this  church,  and  the  influence  is  felt  for  good 
in  our  own  spiritual  prosperity  as  a  congregation  here, 
and  in  the  carrying  on  of  the  great  work  of  our  Lord  in 
the  missions  of  our  church  in  Egypt  and  India. 

VI. THE  RESULTS. 

These,  it  may  be  gratefully  remembered,  have  been 
various  and  manifest. 

First.  In  Reo-ard  to  the  Church. — And  here  no  one 
word  more  happily  characterizes  the  long  past  which  we 
are  remembering  to-day  than  growth  :- — 

(i.)  In  membership.  On  its  organization  there  were 
five  members ;  at  the  settlement  of  your  present  pastor 
there    were   thirty-seven.     Those   small    beginnings  have 


2  2  SECOND  UNITED  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

gradually  swelled  into  a  goodly  number  of  over  diree 
thousand  that  have  been  gathered  in  here  in  these  fifty 
years. 

(2.)  In  places  of  worship.  For  the  first  four  years 
there  was  no  fixed  place,  the  congregation  sometimes 
worshipping  in  the  school-room  of  the  Classical  Institute, 
sometimes  in  the  Mayor's  Court  Room,  the  back  room  of 
the  Musical  Fund  Hall,  the  lecture  room  of  the  College 
of  Pharmacy,  then  on  Zane  street,  the  Franklin  Institute 
on  Seventh  street,  and  then  successively  in  the  church  at 
Eleventh  and  Pearl  streets,  the  church  on  Thirteenth 
street,  and  finally  in  this  large  and  commodious  house 
where  every  facility  Is  furnished  for  us  and  for  our  children, 
and  our  children's  children,  to  worship  God  and  carry  on 
his  glorious  work. 

(3.)  In  finances.  At  first,  there  being  no  house  of  wor- 
ship, and  no  regular  pews,  the  entire  support  of  the  ordi- 
nances was  provided  for  by  annual  subscriptions.  In  the 
smallness  of  their  numbers,  these  subscriptions  had  often 
to  be  large  from  a  few  individuals.  But  in  their  love  for 
the  church  and  its  principles,  they  cheerfully  made  them. 
Afterwards  when  they  came  into  churches,  the  rents  of 
pews  were  depended  on  for  years,  and  then  as  it  was  felt 
that  the  worship  of  God  ought  to  be  free,  and  that  it 
should  be  sustained  by  the  free-will  offerings  which  every 
worshipper  is  under  solemn  obligations  to  bring  as  an  act 
of  w^orship  into  the  sanctuary  every  Sabbath,  the  plan  was 
adopted  of  having  no  formal  subscriptions  and  no  arbi- 
trary pew  rents,  but  to  have  every  person  that  attends  the 
church  make  a  contribution,  as  it  is  conscientiously  felt  the 
Lord  has  prospered  him.  This  was  believed  to  be  de- 
cidedly the  scripture  way,  and  to  make  it  convenient,  a 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  MEMORIAE.  23 

package  of  small  envelopes,  having  one  for  each  Sabbath 
in  the  year,  Is  urged  upon  every  person  at  the  beginning 
of  the  year ;  and  on  each  Sabbath  an  envelope  is  laid 
upon  the  collection  plate  with  whatever  every  one  thinks 
it  is  his  or  her  duty  to  give. 

This  plan  has  been  eminently  successful.  It  has  furnished 
regularly  all  the  money  that  is  required  for  carrying  for- 
ward the  work  of  God  in  our  own  midst,  and  effectually 
prevented  all  necessity  for  promiscuous  or  special  collec- 
tions for  work  abroad.  All  the  contributions  of  commun- 
ion Sabbaths  are  appropriated  to  the  Boards  of  the  church 
at  large,  and  are  found  to  be  ample  for  their  purpose. 

Worthy,  also,  is  it  of  mention  that  God  has  led  us  to 
that  honorable  and  most  proper  position  in  which,  as  a 
congregation,  no  debt  hangs  as  a  dark  cloud  over 
our  sanctuary.  On  the  forefront  of  our  church  edifice  it 
may  be  truly  written  :  "  This  is  the  Lord's — not  the  credi- 
tor's— house ;"  and  our  rejoicing  before  God  and  the 
world  is  that  as  a  church  we  "  owe  no  man  anything 
but  to  love  one  another" — a  state  of  things  most  happily 
brought  about  by  the  generous  spirit  of  liberality  under 
which  nearly  all  the  members  of  the  church  sought  to  avail 
themselves  of  the  privilege  and  the  honor  of  having  a 
personal  part  in  the  work  of  presenting  to  God  and  the 
world  a  free  and  unindebted  church.  In  all  this,  also, 
as  often  before  the  ladies  of  the  congregation  bore 
such  part  in  raising  the  funds  which  were  required,  that 
the  congregation  unanimously  placed  upon  its  records  its 
grateful  sense  of  their  great  effort  and  success  in  helping 
to  make  our  church  financially  free  and  independent. 

(4.)  In  the  cause  of  Christ.  At  first  everything  was 
almost  necessarily  confined  to  itself,  but  there  was  also 


24  SECOND  UNITED  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

early  shown  a  wider  spirit.  The  love  for  the  church,  and 
its  principles  and  interests,  deepened.  Longings  were 
manifested  for  revivings  of  the  work  of  God.  Personal 
piety  and  household  religion  were  sedulously  cultivated. 
Work  for  Christ  in  the  Sabbath-school,  in  tract  distribu- 
tion, in  the  various  religious  and  benevolent  societies 
around,  and  in  all  the  operations  of  our  own  particular 
branch  of  the  church  of  Christ  both  at  home  and  abroad, 
was  cherished  and  faithfully  engaged  in,  and  now  for  many 
3^ears  not  a  Board  of  our  church  has  been  permitted  to 
lack  the  portion  that  was  each  year  due  from  this  congre- 
gation to  help  it  perform  the  work  committed  to  its  hands. 
Most  emphatically  has  the  aim  of  many  of  its  members 
been  to  have  this  church  a  light  that  could  not  be  hid. 

Second.  Personally. — Just  as  he  was  twenty-four  years 
of  age,  and  with  but  three  sermons  fully  prepared,  your 
pastor  came  under  appointment  of  the  Associate  Reformed 
Presbytery  of  New  York  in  August,  1839,  to  supply  this 
church.  Before  he  was  twenty-five  he  was  invested,  on 
the  fourth  of  June,  1840,  with  all  the  responsibilities  of  the 
ministerial  office,  and  of  this  pastoral  charge.  It  was  a  day 
of  weakness  and  trembling ;  but  since  that  day  he  has 
never  preached  as  a  candidate  for  any  other  pulpit.  He 
has  been  invited  to  other  promising  and  useful  fields  of 
labor  both  in  the  pulpit  and  in  the  professorial  chair,  but 
never  for  one  moment  has  he  entertained  the  thouo'ht  of 
accepting  any  of  them.  He  has  never  been  laid  aside  for 
any  length  of  time,  and  for  many  years  was  never  absent 
a  Sabbath  in  the  year  except  when  attending  to  official 
duties  in  the  service  of  the  church  at  large. 

In  these  long  years  he  has  preached,  as  God  has  enabled 
him,  over  four  thousand  sermons   in   this   congregation  ; 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  MEMORIAL. 


25 


has  baptized  83  adults  and  1,040  infant  children,  and  has 
received  into  the  church  3,276  persons,  of  whom  1,321 
were  by  certificate,  and  1,955  o^"*  profession  of  their  faith 
in  Christ.  He  has  united  917  couples  in  marriage,  and 
attended  987  funerals.  In  all  the  149  communion  seasons 
enjoyed,  there  has  never  been  one  in  which  there  were 
not  accessions  made  to  the  membership  of  the  church. 

In  this  long"  review  there  are  two  things  for  which  your 
pastor  is  this  day  profoundly  thankful. 

First. — That  while  he  has  been  thus  spared  in  the  good 
pleasure  of  God,  and  enabled  to  preach  these  thousands 
of  sermons,  yet  with  all  the  imperfections  that  have 
marked  them,  he  has  never  knowingly  been  permitted 
to  preach  a  single  sermon  from  this  pulpit  that  did  not 
somewhere  and  in  some  way  set  forth  Christ  and  him  cru- 
cified as  the  only  hope  of  the  sinful  and  the  lost,  and  to 
urge  men  to  believe  in  him,  that  they  might  not  perish  but 
have  everlasting-  life.     And 

Second. — That  while  there  have  been  shortcomings, 
and  failings,  and  manifold  imperfections  in  his  oversight 
of  this  pastoral  charge,  yet  he  has  never  been  made  to 
see  and  feel  that  sorest  of  trials  to  a  pastor's  heart — the 
slight,  or  neglect,  or  unkindness,  or  ill-will  and  persistent 
enmity  of  any  of  all  the  long  list  of  his  people.  Many 
have  always  done  much  to  encourage,  and  help  and  glad- 
den him,  amid  all  the  anxieties  and  trials  of  this  ever-im- 
portant charge.  Some  in  being  neglectful  of  their  own 
best  interests,  and  persistent  in  holding  back  from  the 
right  ways  in  which  they  have  been  most  anxiously  sought 
to  walk  for  their  everlasting  good,  have  been  the  occa- 
sion of  many  a  tear  and  many  a  prayer;  but  scarcely  any 
have  ever  been  at  all,  or  for  any  length  of  time,  the  occa- 
sion of  a  pang  for  a  personal  unkindness  or  wrong. 


2  6  SECOND  UNITED  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

Vn.— INCIDENTS. 

In  a  long  history  like  that  of  this  church  and  its  pastor 
there  have  many  things  occurred,  some  of  which  may  be 
properly  mentioned:  First,  of  a  painful  kind.  On  Wednes- 
day, July  2,  1834;  the  first  pastor  of  this  church  was  or- 
dained and  installed.  On  the  following  Sabbath,  July  6, 
James  P.  Ramsey,  his  earliest  and  one  of  his  dearest 
friends  in  the  congregation,  the  first  ruling  elder  that  was 
ordained  here,  and  the  man  in  whom  he  had  most  expected 
to  confide,  was  called  away  by  death.  On  Monday  evening, 
January  13,  1840,  your  present  pastor  was  called,  the  Rev. 
Wm.  Maclaren,  then  of  New  York  city,  moderating  in 
the  call.  The  first  person  who  subscribed  to  that  call,  and 
the  one  that  was  one  of  the  best  known  to  your  pastor  of 
all  the  congregation,  and  from  whose  experience,  good 
judgment  and  energetic  spirit  he  expected  much  in  the 
anxious  future  that  was  opening  up  before  him,  was 
William  McKee.  But  that  meeting  was  his  last  in  the 
church,  and  that  signing  of  the  call  was  his  last  public  act. 
On  Sabbath  morning,  the  8th  of  the  following  March,  he 
departed  this  life.  On  April  22,  1857,  we  entered,  after 
long  waiting  and  toil,  this  house  of  worship,  and  had  our 
cup  filled  with  joy.  In  less  than  five  weeks  from  that  day. 
May  27,  1857,  Robert  Dunlap,  the  first  installed  and 
oldest  of  all  the  rulino^  elders  of  our  church,  ceased  from 
earth,  and  entered  into  rest — incidents  affectingly  showing 
that  many  of  the  great  movements  in  our  history  have  been 
signalized  by  the  removal  of  dear  ones  from  our  midst, 
and  showing  that  God  would  ever  have  us  feel  that  He 
and  not  man  is  the  abiding  Helper. 

Seco7id,  of  a  cheering  kind.  Under  a  grateful  sense  of 
the  Lord's  goodness  in  all  the  way  in  which  he  had  led 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  MEMORIAL.  27 

them,  five  members  of  this  church  have  remembered  it  in 
their  wills,  and  left  in  the  hands  of  its  Session  or  officers  the 
means  of  having  good  done  long  after  they  should  be  called 
away.  Deeply  constrained,  also,  by  the  love  of  Christ  and 
with  a  sense  of  the  high  honor  of  being  ministers  of  the 
everlasting  gospel,  and  thus  of  being  instrumental,  in  some 
measure,  of  meeting  the  wants  of  a  perishing  world,  thir- 
teen young  men  from  our  midst  have  studied  in  whole  or 
in  part  for  the  gospel  ministry,  eleven  of  whom  fully 
entered  upon  the  great  work  of  being  ambassadors  for 
Christ,  four  of  whom  are  now  in  useful  pastoral  charges  in 
our  Church,  viz:  Revs.  Wm.  B.  Short,  Cambridge,  N.  Y. ; 
Jas.  A.  Clarke,  Prospect,  Pa. ;  David  Anderson,  Octoraro, 
Pa. ;  and  W.  J.  Martin,  Cabin  Hill,  N.  Y. 

Nor  is  one  other  incident  of  scarcely  less  rich  fragrance, 
as  memory  brings  it  up  in  delightful  evidence  ot  the 
interest  the  early  members  of  this  church  always  felt  in 
its  welfare  and  good.  On  October  i6,  1834,  Mr.  David 
Stuart,  brother  of  Mr.  George  H.  Stuart,  of  this  city,  and 
lately  deceased  at  Birkenhead,  England,  was  admitted, 
on  examination  by  the  pastor,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Forsyth,  into 
the  membership  of  this  church.  Here  he  remained  for 
several  years,  and  here  his  first  child  was  baptised  by  your 
present  pastor.  Circumstances,  however,  called  him  to 
remove  to  Liverpool,  England,  where  he  settled  in  his 
business.  In  the  spring  of  1857,  as  the  ladies  of  our  church 
were  engaged  in  furnishing  this  new  edifice,  which  was 
then  approaching  its  completion,  they  had  your  pastor 
write  to  Mr.  Stuart  to  ask  the  price  in  England  of  the 
moreen  required  for  cushioning  and  lining  the  pews,  and 
whether  it  would  be  anyadvantage  for  us  to  purchase  it  there 
rather  than  in  the  United  States.     Some  weeks  afterward 


28  SECOND  UNITED  rRESBYTEKIAN  CHURCH 

his  reply  came  to  our  door  In  the  form  of  a  full  supply  of 
all  the  material  desired,  with  the  bill,  amounting  to  nearly 
$i,ooo,  receipted  in  full,  and  a  note  in  which,  with  an 
express  desire  to  avoid  publicity,  he  subscribed  himself  an 
early  friend  of  the  church,  and  bade  it  God-speed  in  all 
its  ofood  work. 

T/iird,  of  a  rejoicing  character.  In  that  while  all  topics 
have  been  more  or  less  discussed  in  this  pulpit,  as  they 
were  called  for  by  the  circumstances  of  the  congregation 
or  the  signs  of  the  times,  and  as  the  best  interests  of 
the  church  and  the  world  at  large  demanded,  there  has 
always  been  a  systematic  study  of  the  Bible  in  course.. 
In  the  order  of  these  studies,  expository  lectures  have 
been  given  upon  the  First  Epistle  of  Peter,  the  Lord's 
Prayer,  Jonah,  Ruth,  the  Ten  Commandments,  Esther, 
Matthew,  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles,  James,  more  than  half  of  the  book  of  Psalms, 
and  nearly  all  of  the  Gospel  by  John.  Thus  a  large  part 
of  the  Holy  Scriptures  have  been  studied  in  their  immediate 
connections.  While,  too,  in  the  course  of  those  many  years, 
it  is  not  known  that  there  has  ever  been  a  family  for  any 
length  of  time  in  our  church  that  has  not  had  some  of  its 
members  brought  to  confess  Christ,  and  become  members 
of  the  church,  it  can  also  be  happily  said  of  several 
families  of  from  five  to  ten  members  each,  the  entire  house- 
hold have  been  led  to  take  their  place  on  the  side  of 
Christ  and  be  seated  together  at  the  table  of  the  Lord, 
giving  thus  happy  anticipations  of  the  time  coming  when 
whole  families  from  our  midst  shall  sit  down  together  at 
the  marriage  supper  of  the  Lamb,  not  one  absent,  but  all 
gathered  in — not  one  lost,  but  all  saved. 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL    MEMORIAL.  29 

VIII. 

But  many  and  eventful  in  interest  as  these  years  have 
been  to  us  as  a  church,  what  changes  have  been  occurring 
around  us?  Many  of  these  come  very  impressively  to 
your  pastor's  mind  and  heart  this  day. 

In  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  this  city,  fifty  years  ago, 
there  were  less  than  twenty  congregations;  now  there  are 
nearly  one  hundred.  The  two  Associate  Churches  and 
the  one  Associate  Reformed  then,  have  become  eleven. 
And  with  the  vast  extending  of  the  population  and  its 
needs  in  these  years,  churches  of  every  denomination 
have  been  largely  multiplied.  Who  .can  estimate  the  vast 
amount  of  good  thus  accomplished? 

Very  tender  here  is  the  recollection  this  day  of  the 
co-Presbyters,  who  one  after  another  have  finished  their 
course  and  entered  into  their  rest  during  this  long 
period:  Revs.  Andrew  Bower,  who  died  December  31st, 
185 1  ;  Thomas  H.  Beveridge,  August  15th,  i860;  Geo. 
C.  Arnold,  November  30th,  1863  ;  James  Law,  July  i6th, 
1872;  S.  S.  White,  August  i6th,  1876;  W.  C.  Jackson, 
December  22,  1878;  D.  M.  Gordon,  August  23,  1880; 
Wm.  Easton,  D.  D.,  July  25th,  1879;  J.  C.  Campbell, 
August  31st,  1879;  and  William  Bruce,  D.  D.,  November 
loth,  1880 — men  most  of  whom  would  have  been  men  of 
mark  anywhere,  and  all  of  whom  loved  and  were  loved  as 
Christian  brethren,  and  were  men  conscientiously  devoted 
to  Christ,  to  his  church,  and  to  his  service.  Very  pleasant 
is  their  memory.  With  every  one  of  them  your  pastor 
has  taken  sweet  counsel,  and  walked  with  them  to  the 
house  of  God.       ' 

Very  pleasant,  also,  though  affecting,  is  the  memory  of 
the  Evangelical  pulpits  of  this  city  in  that  day.     They  were 


30  SECOND    UNITED    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

well  and  ably  filled.  To  say  nodiing  of  the  more  recent 
ministers,  there  were  here  then  in  the  First  Associate 
Church  the  Rev,  Chauncey  Webster,  who,  with  many  pe- 
culiarities, was  always  an  instructive  preacher;  and  in  the 
Second  Church  of  that  body  was  the  Rev.  J.  T.  Cooper, 
D.  D.,  now  of  Allegheny  Theological  Seminary ;  then 
in  the  freshness  of  a  settlement  here  only  about  nine 
months  earlier  than  your  pastor's,  and-  even  then  giving 
rich  promise  of  all  the  excellence  and  ability  that  have 
marked  his  later  years  for  good  to  the  church  and  the 
world.  Here,  too,  then,  were  the  Rev.  Samuel  B.  Wylie, 
D.  D.,  of  the  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church — one  of  the 
ripest  scholars — a  man  who  was  emphatically  a  father  and 
a  friend  to  a  young  minister,  and  one  whom  your  pastor 
can  never  forget ;  and  Rev.  James  McLeod  Willson,  who 
was  a  genial  friend  In  social  life,  and  one  of  the  most  un- 
compromising and  able  advocates  of  "  Christ's  crown  and 
covenant"  everywhere.  Here,  too,  at  that  time,  were  the 
Rev.  Drs.  George  W.  Bethune,  of  the  Reformed  (Dutch) 
Church,  John  McDowell,  C.  C,  Cuyler,  George  Chandler, 
Albert  Barnes  and  Henry  A.  Boardman,  of  the  Presby- 
terian, the  elder  Stephen  H.  Tyng,  of  the  Episcopal, 
George  B.  Ide  and  Joseph  H.  Kennard,  of  the  Baptist, 
and  John  P.  Durbin  and  Thos.  H.  Stockton,  of  the 
Methodist — all  men  that  were  then  in  the  fulness  of 
their  matured  and  cultured  powers — men  of  godly  and 
evangelical  worth — and  men  that  made  the  Philadelphia 
pulpit  of  that  day  a  name  and  a  power  in  the  land.  But 
time  has  passed,  and  with  the  single  exception  of  Dr. 
Cooper,  not  one  of  all  here  named  is  left  in  our  midst,  or 
is  now  in  the  land  of  the  living.  They  have  entered  into 
their  rest  and  their  reward  ;  yet  precious  is  their  memory, 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL    MEMORIAL.  3  I 

and  hallowed  far  more  than  many  may  ever  know  In  time, 
has  been  the  influence  of  some  of  them  in  their  fervent 
prayers,  their  genial  spirit,  their  valuable  suggestions 
and  their  rare  excellencies  in  the  pulpit  and  out  of  it, 
upon  the  ministry  that  you  have  had  in  this  pulpit  these 
forty  years. 

What  changes,  also,  have  been  in  the  country !  By  the 
census  of  1830,  the  population  of  the  United  States  was 
12,866,020;  in  1840  it  was  17,069,453;  and  now  in  the 
ever  onward,  and  in  this  country  rapid  march  of  events,  it 
is  50,152,559,  or  is  nearly  four-fold  greater  than  when  our 
congregation's  half  century  began.  '  Then  slavery  had  its 
deep  impress  on  our  soil,  and  was  recognized  and  allowed 
by  our  national  government ;  but  in  these  years,  and 
under  the  sovereign  movings  of  him  who  ever,  sooner  or 
later,  hears  the  cries  of  the  oppressed,  and  rises  up  to 
plead  their  cause,  emancipation  was  decreed,  and  on  the 
I  St  day  of  January,  1863,  every  chain  of  slavery  was  broken, 
and  the;  way  was  prepared  for  the  first  time  in  all  our  Inde- 
pendent national  history  for  "Liberty  to  be  proclaimed 
throughout  all  the  land,  and  to  all  the  inhabitants  thereof." 

What  changes,  too,  in  the  work  of  the  church  abroad ! 
With  the  exception  of  the  American  Board  of  Com- 
missioners for  Foreign  Missions,  which  was  organized  in 
1 8 10,  and  the  American  Baptist  Union,  which  began  Its 
mission  work  in  18 14,  there  was  not  then  a  strictly  foreign 
missionary  organization  in  this  country,  and  not  a  single 
evangelical  church  was  distinctively  or  separately  en- 
gaged in  this  great  work  ;  but  now  there  Is  scarcely  any 
branch  of  the  true  church  of  Christ  that  is  not  girded  up 
to  it,  and  that  with  all  the  force  of  its  denominational 
name  and  power.     In    1840  neither   the  Associate    nor 


32  SECOND    UNITED    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

Associate  Reformed  Churches  had  a  single  laborer  in  the 
foreign  field,  or  any  distinctive  hand  as  churches  in  that 
service.  One  by  one,  however,  both  of  these  churches — the 
former  in  1843,  and  the  latter  in  the  following  year — re- 
solved upon  it,  and  under  their  respective  committees  and 
the  Board,  which  was  formed  when  the  United  Presby- 
terian Church  was  organized  in  1859,  and  their  missions 
were  consolidated,  they  have  in  these  years  sent  out 
ninety-one  persons  to  the  foreign  field,  have  had  more 
than  half  a  million  of  dollars  contributed  to  carry  on 
the  work,  and  have  now  fifty-eight  reported  stations 
under  their  care  in  the  two  missions  of  India  and  Egypt, 
with  seventeen  organized  churches,  1,289  native  commu- 
nicants In  them,  and  3,644  persons  receiving  daily  instruc- 
tions in  the  great  truths  of  the  everlasting  gospel. 

Most  wonderful,  also,  have  been  the  developments  of 
these  years  in  the  world's  history  and  condition.  The 
navigation  of  the  ocean  by  steam  had  scarcely  at  that 
time  been  attempted;  now  it  has  become  co-extensive 
with  the  globe.  The  magnetic  telegraph  had  not  been 
even  dreamed  of;  now  it  traverses  continents  and 
oceans  alike,  and  has  become  a  means  of  instantaneous 
communication  for  individuals  and  nations  the  world 
over.  In  these  years  civil  oppressions  and  religious 
intolerances  have  been  vastl)  laid  aside:  Russia  has  given 
up  her  serfdoms ;  China  has  opened  her  gates  to  the 
world;  Japan  has  entered  upon  the  noblest  civilization. 
In  1848  began  that  trembling  of  the  Papal  civil  power, 
which  culminated  at  length  in  its  utter  overthrow  in  Italy 
in  1870,  and  made  all  that  land,  and  the  very  city  of  Rome 
itself,  as  it  is  this  day,  free  to  the  gospel  and  the  world. 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL    MEMORIAL.  33 

In  one  word,  in  this  half  century  more  than  in  centuries 
before,  the  way  has  been  prepared  for  the  regeneration 
and  true  elevation  of  mankind,  for  the  evangelizing  and 
real  civilizing  of  the  world,  and  for  the  universal  honoring 
and  glorying  of  God, 

IX. FINALLY. 

Members  and  friends  of  this  dear  old  church : — 

First. — Be  thankful  under  this  remembering  of  all  the 
way  by  which  God  has  led  us  this  half  century  and  these 
forty  years,  and  show  that  thankfulness  by  a  fresh  and  full 
consecration  of  heart  and  life,  time  and  substance,  self 
and  all  to  the  service  and  the  glory  of  him  who  hath  done 
great  things  for  us,  whereof  we  may  well  be  glad. 

Second. — Be  faithful. — Faithful  to  him  who  hath  re- 
membered his  promises  to  the  fathers,  and  hath  blessed 
their  children — faithful  to  the  principles  and  ordinances, 
the  love  of  which  led  to  the  foundation  of  this  church,  and 
that  have  ever  been,  under  the  blessing  of  God,  one  of  its 
most  distinctive  and  leading  elements  of  usefulness  and 
good — and  faithful  to  all  the  best  interests  of  the  church 
itself,  as  dear  to  our  fathers  and  deserving  to  be  dear  to 
their  children  as  it  goes  down  the  years  and  the  genera- 
tions of  time. 

Third. — Be  devoted. — Devoted  to  Christ  as  the  "all  and 
in  all"  for  the  good  of  the  soul,  and  as  the  hope  of  the 
church  and  the  world — devoted  to  duty  in  the  closet,  in 
the  family,  in  the  places  of  prayer,  and  in  the  sanctuary — 
devoted  to  work  in  the  Sabbath-school,  the  missionary 
and  Dorcas,  and  every  other  society  of  the  church,  and  in 
all  the  ways  that  are  devised,  and  that  God  in  his  provi- 


34  SECOND    UNITED    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH. 

dence  may  call  for,  that  good  may  be  done,  souls  be  saved, 
the  church  built  up,  and  God  glorified. 

The  time  is  short.  So  live,  that  while  you  live  you  will 
be  felt,  and  that  when  you  die  you  will  be  missed.  So 
live,  that  through  your  diligent,  persevering,  sanctified  in- 
strumentality, it  may  be  said  of  very  many,  as  this  church 
is  pointed  to,  "  this  man  was  born  there."  So  live,  that  in 
some  sense  it  may  be  said  of  you  as  of  one  referred  to  by 
the  aged  Mrs.  Lefevre,  who  at  nearly  eighty  years  of  age 
was  gathered  into  our  Sabbath-school  and  then  into  our 
church.  As  her  dying  hour  was  drawing  on,  she  one  day 
looked  back  with  grateful  memory  to  the  little  girl  who 
had  first  induced  her  to  go  to  the  school,  but  who  had 
since  died,  and  said  :  "  .Oh,  when  I  reach  heaven  I  will  first 
seek  Jesus,  and  casting  myself  down  before  him  will  praise 
him  with  all  my  heart ;  and  then  I  will  seek  Mary,  and 
finding  her,  will  take  her  right  up  to  him  and  say:  '  Here 
is  Mary,  who  first  led  me  in  the  way  to  thee  and  to  be 
saved.' " 

Brethren,  the  time  is  short.  Not  as  many  years  are 
before  your  pastor  as  have  been.  Still,  as  ever  in  the 
past,  and  onward  to  the  end,  his  one  highest  and  most 
longing  aim,  next  to  the  saving  of  his  own  soul,  has  been 
and  shall  ever  be,  to  have  a  great  multitude  of  whom,  as 
they  come  from  under  the  ministry  of  these  long  years, 
he  may  be  able  to  say,  as  he  presents  himself  with  them 
before  the  throne,  "  Here  am  I  and  the  children  whom 
thou  hast  given  me." 

My  dear  people,  will  you  all  be  of  that  happy  group 
on  that  day? 


SECOND  UNITED  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH. 


35 


Historical  Record. 


1830 — 1840 — 1880. 


PASTORS. 


Rev.  JOHN  FORSYTH,  D.  D.,  July  2,  1834,  to  Dec,  1836. 
Rev.  J.  B.  DALES,  D.  D.,  June  4th,   1840. 


ELDERS. 

*James  P.  Ramsey,  Ordained  and  Installed,  October  4,  1830. 

♦Robert  Dunlap, 

*Joseph  Warden,  "                      ' 

*James  Black,  "                      ' 

*William  McKee, 

*Thomas  H.  Dickson,  "                      ' 

*A.  H.  Julian, 

*W.  R.  Grant,  M.  D., 

*John  Weir,  ' 

*James  Ferguson,  "                      ' 

Andrew  Braden,  "                      " 

^Robert  Vincent,  "                      " 

George  Patton,  "                      " 

*James  H.  Dales,  " 

Samuel  C.  Huey,  "      •               " 

*William  K.  Hemphill,  " 

William  Getty,  "                       " 

*John  McCausland  " 


December  20,  1835. 
October  6,  1837. 


November  19,  1840. 
September  3,  1848. 


September  8,  1853. 


December  10,  1857. 


*  Deceased. 


36 


SECOND  UNITED  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH. 


Alexander  McNeil,  Ordained  and  Installed,  December  lo,  1857. 

*James  Wilson, 

*James  McCaughin, 

*William  D.  McLeod, 

John  Alexander, 

John  Braden, 

James  D.  Ferguson, 

John  McDowell, 

Robert  Glass, 

Samuel  Cummings, 

*W.  J.  Wallace, 


March  6,  1865. 
December  9,  1875. 


TRUSTEES  SINCE  1830. 


*Robert  Dunlap, 
*James  P.  Ramsey, 
*Thomas  H.  Dickson, 
*A.  H.  Julian, 
*William  McKee, 
^Samuel  Sloan, 
^Andrew  McFadden, 
"'^James  Ferguson, 
^Thompson  Black, 
W.  H.  Scott, 
J.  K.  Bell, 
*David  Stuart, 
*Robert  Vincent, 
Matthew  Fife, 
James  Moore, 
Samuel  C.  Huey, 
*William  K.  Hemphill, 
William  Taylor, 
^Willam  D.  McLeod, 
Andrew  Braden, 


*James  H.  Dales, 
John  McDowell, 
*John  Booth, 
James  Braden, 
*J.  W.  Hewitt, 
William  Getty, 
Robert  Nelson, 
*Robert  McCausland, 
John  Cochran, 
John  M.  Wallace, 
Robert  McKnight, 
Robert  T.  Elliott. 
Joseph  D.  McKee, 
John  S.  Alexander, 
William  McAdoo, 
James  D.  Ferguson, 
James  P.  Murphy, 
*W.  J.  Wallace, 
James  H.  Purdon, 
William  McLaughlin. 


♦Deceased. 


SECOND  UNITED  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH.  37 

SABBATH  SCHOOL    SUPERINTENDENTS. 

^William  McKee, 

^Thomas  H.  Dickson, 

*A.  H.  Julian, 
William  Getty,  Samuel  C.  Huey, 

Joseph  D.  McKee, 

William  Getty, 

Robert  Glass. 

PRECENTORS. 

*Thomas  H.  Dickson, 

Alexander  Murphy, 

*W.  K.  Hemphill, 
*James  Noble, 

*Alexander  Robb^ 

Samuel  C.  Davis, 
Joseph  Loudenslager, 

*John  K.  McGowan, 

*John  Gibson, 

D.  Musser  McKee. 

♦Deceased. 


Present  Organization., 

PASTOR. 

Rev.  J.  B.  DALES,  D.  D. 


RULING  ELDERS. 


Alexander  McNeil,  John  McDowell, 

John  Alexander,  Robert  Glass, 

John  Braden,  James  D.  Ferguson,  Stated  Clerk. 


TRUSTEES. 

Joseph  D.  McKce,  President,  John  S.  Alexander, 

James  H.  Purdon,  Secretary,  James  P.  Murphy, 

James  D.  Ferguson,  Treasurer,  William  McLaughlin. 


PRECENTOR.  SEXTON. 

D.  Musser  McKee.  Charles  Lewis,  I2g  Gebhard  St. 


38 


SECOND  UNITED  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH. 


SABBATH  SCHOOL. 

Robert  Glass,  Superintendent. 

James  P.  Murphy,  Assistatit  Superintendent. 

Taylor  Braden,  Secretary. 

James  H.  Purdon,  Treasurer. 

Howard  R.  Ferguson,     ^ 

Lewis  F.  Williams,  \  Librarians. 

Charles  McCaughin,         J 


TEACHERS. 


William  Arrott, 
Joseph  D.  McKee, 
James  P.  Murphy, 
James  D.  Ferguson 
T.  E.  Patterson, 
John  McDowell, 
Frank  Getty, 
William  G.  Garland, 
John  Blakely, 
John  M.  Cooper, 
John  Murphy, 
Robert  Glass, 
Robert  H.  Ferguson, 
Harriet  M.  Breaden, 
Elizabeth  McFarland, 
Elizabeth  Arnold, 


Sarah  F.  Dales, 
Sarah  Hollis, 
Mary  Gibson, 
Kate  A.  McLaughlin, 
M.  J.  Hollis, 
Mary  C.  Alexander, 
Isabel  S.  Ferguson, 
Mrs.  M.  H.  Jackson, 
Mary  McCaughin, 
Margaret  Wesley, 
Susan  Stewart, 
Susan  Purdon, 
Ellen  Woolley. 
Agnes  Martin, 
Ella  Braden, 
Mary  Glass. 


SECOND  UNITED  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH.  39 

PRESENT  APPOINTMENTS. 

Public  Worship. — Every  Sabbath,  10^  A.  M.,  and  4  P.  M. 

Baptism. — First  Sabbath,  P.  M.,  each  month. 

Communion. — Second  Sabbath  in  March,  June,  September  and 
December. 

Session. — Stated  Meeting.  The  first  Monday  evening  of  each 
month. 

Trustees. — Stated  Meeting.  The  first  Monday  evening  of  each 
alternate  month. 

Lecture. — Wednesday  evening,  every  week,  at  8  o'clock. 

Prayer  Meeting. — Every  Thursday  evening,  at  8  o'clock. 

Sabbath  School Every  Sabbath,  except  on  Communion  days,  at 

2^  o'clock  P.  M. 

Annual  Meeting. — First  Monday  of  New  Year. 


SOCIETIES. 

TEMPERANCE  BENEFICIAL  ASSOCIATION. 

John  Blakely,  President. 
Joseph  Dougan,  Jr.,  Secretary. 
William  Arrott,  Treasurer. 
James  H.  Purdon,  Financial  Secretary. 
Meets  every  alternate  Monday  evening. 

LADIES'  MISSIONARY  AND  AID  SOCIETY. 
Mrs.  J.  B.  Dales,  President. 
Ella  Braden,  Recording  Secretary. 
Mary  C.  Alexander,  Corresponding  Secretary. 
Belle  Ferguson,  Treasurer. 
Meets  first  Monday  evening  each  month. 

YOUNG  PEOPLE'S  ASSOCIATION. 
John  S.  Dougan,  President. 
Robert  B.  Williams,    Vice-President. 
Robert  J.  McKain,  Secretary. 
Anna  McFeeters,    Treasurer. 
Meets  every  alternate  Tuesday. 


40  SECOND  UNITED  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH. 

BOARDS  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


FOREIGN  MISSIONS, 

HOME  MISSIONS, 

ED  [/CATION. 
CHURCH  EXTENSION, 

FREEDMENS  MISSION, 

PUBLICATION, 

MINISTERIAL  RELIEF. 


All  the  offerings  of   Communion   Sabbaths   are  for 
these  Boards  and  the  Poor. 


"  Bring  ye  all  the  tithes  into  the  storehouse  and  prove  me 
now  herewith,  saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts,  and  see  if  I  will  not  pour 
you  out  a  blessing,  until  there  shall  not  be  room  to  receive  it." 


SECOND  UNITED  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH.  4 1 


MEMORIAL  MEETING. 


On  the  evening  of  February  22,  1881,  a  Memorial  Meeting  was  held 
in  the  church  to  commemorate  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  its  organiza- 
tion, and  the  fortieth  anniversary  of  the  pastorate  of  Rev  John  B. 
Dales,  D.  D.  A  large  and  delighted  audience  was  in  attendance,  com- 
pletely filling  the  church.  The  vestibule,  lecture  room  and  auditorium 
were  tastefully  decorated  with  choice  plants.  The  pulpit  was  entirely 
given  up  to  a  floral  display,  in  which  prominently  appeared  the  figures 
1830,  1840,  and  1880.  Large  portraits  of  both  pastors,  handsomely 
festooned,  were  conspicuous.  The  choir,  under  the  leadership  of 
D.  M.  McKee,  was  full,  and  was  well  reinforced  in  the  singing  by  the 
choir  of  the  North  Church.  The  large  audience  joined  heartily  in  this 
portion  of  the  service. 

At  quarter  before  eight  the  platform  in  front  of  the  pulpit  was  taken 
possession  of  by  a  number  of  ministers  and  others.  Joseph  D.  McKee, 
Esq.,  a  son  of  one  of  the  founders  of  the  church,  was  in  the  chair. 
After  singing,  and  prayer  by  Rev.  Dr.  Blaikie,  and  some  remarks  by 
the  chairman,  a  paper  was  read  by  John  Alexander,  Esq.,  as  a  tribute 
from  the  session  to  the  pastor.  A  minute  which  the  Trustees  had  pre- 
pared and  entered  on  their  book  of  records  was  read  by  James  D. 
Ferguson,  Esq. 

It  was  a  matter  of  great  regret  to  all,  that  Rev.  John  Forsyth,  D.  D.,  the 
former  pastor  of  the  church,  was  not  able  to  be  present,  but  a  letter  of 
kindly  greeting  and  pleasant  reminiscences  was  read  from  him  byWm.  S. 
Stewart,  M.  D.  Mr.  R.  H.  Ferguson  read  letters  also  from  Revs.  J.  B. 
ScouUer,  D.  D.,  of  Newville,  Pa.,  formerly  pastor  of  what  is  now  the 
Fourth  United  Presbyterian  Church  of  this  city  ;  J.  D.  Gibson,  D.  D.,  a 
fellow-student  of  our  pastor  in  the  Theological  Seminary ;  Rev.  George 
Patton,  of  Rochester,  N.  Y.;  J.  T.  Cooper,  D.  D.,  Professor  of 
Theology  in  the  Theological  Seminary  at  Allegheny,  Pa.,  and  George 
H.  Stuart,  Esq.,  of  this  city. 


42  SECOND  UNITED  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH. 

As  a  representative  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  Philadelphia,  Rev. 
W.  P.  Breed,  D.  D.,  made  an  address,  and  was  followed  by  Rev.  James 
Crowe,  of  the  Ninth  United  Presbyterian  Church ;  T.  W.  J.  Wylie, 
D.  D.,  and  Rev.  S.  O.  Wylie,  D.  D.,  of  the  Reformed  Presbyterian 
Church;  Rev.  David  Anderson,  of  Octoraro,  Pa.,  formerly  connected 
with  the  Sabbath-school,  and  by  Rev.  Wm.  O.  Johnstone,  D.  D.,  of  the 
Kensington  Presbyterian  Church,  Philadelphia.  A  number  of  ministers, 
and  others  interested  in  the  Church,  were  present,  but  as  the  hour  be- 
came late,  they  could  not  be  called  on  to  make  remarks. 

The  exercises  were  brought  to  a  close  by  the  ceremony  of  presenting 
to  Rev.  Dr.  Dales,  by  William  Arrott,  Esq.,  a  handsome  silver  memorial 
from  the  congregation.  In  a  few  well-timed  remarks,  he  expressed  to 
the  pastor  the  warm  regards  and  the  best  wishes  of  the  people.  He  also 
presented  to  Mrs.  Dales  from  them  a  beautiful  floral  ornament.  To  these 
presentations  the  pastor  responded  happily.  The  audience  then  united 
in  singing  from  the  cxxii.  Psalm, 

Pray  that  Jerusalem's  peace  endure, 

For  all  that  love  thee  God  will  bless ; 
Peace  dwell  within  thy  walls  secure, 

And  joy  within  thy  palaces. 
For  sake  of  friends  and  kindred  dear, 

My  heart's  desire  is  "peace  to  thee ;" 
And  for  the  house  of  God,  my  prayer 

Shall  seek  thy  good  continually. 

And  the  benediction  was  pronounced  by  Rev.  Francis  Church.  Thus 
closed  a  meeting  of  great  enjoyment  and  interest  to  all,  and  a  fitting 
celebration  of  the  semi-centennial  of  our  beloved  Church,  and  a  forty 
years'  pastorate. 


PAPERS  PRESENTED. 

Mr.  John  Alexander,  from  the  Session,  read  the  follow- 
ing paper: — 

Friends  and  Brethren:  On  behalf  of  our  Session,  we  are  desired 
to  say  a  few  words  to  you  upon  this  peculiarly  interesting  occasion — the 
fiftieth  anniversary  of  our  congregation,  and  the  fortieth  of  the  settle- 
ment of  our  pastor. 


SECOND  UNITED  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH.  43 

And  in  the  first  place  we  wish  to  express  the  great  pleasure,  which  we 
are  sure  all  the  congregation  feel,  in  having  our  anniversary  graced  with 
the  presence  of  so  many  distinguished  co-workers  and  friends  of  our 
pastor  and  his  people. 

This  token  of  Christian  courtesy  and  good-will  we  cordially  accept 
as  a  harbinger  of  the  happy  day  when  the  watchmen  on  Zion's  walls 
shall  see  eye  to  eye,  and  we  all  be  made  one  in  Christ. 

Upon  this  double  anniversary,  there  comes  before  the  mind's  eye  a 
long  line  of  faithful  men,  who  should  be  held  in  everlasting  remem- 
brance for  their  works  of  faith  and  labors  of  love  in  this  congregation, 
but  who  have  been  taken  to  their  higher  reward,  the  fruit  of  whose  self- 
sacrificing  services  we  their  successors  now  enjoy,  and  would  do  well  to 
cultivate  and  perpetuate.  Those  men  were  the  Aarons  and  Hurs  who 
stayed  up  the  hands  of  our  Moses,  so  that,  under  God,  our  Israel  pre- 
vailed, and  the  gospel  has  been  heard  from  his  mouth  for  the  space 
oi  forty  years. 

In  this  age  of  itching  ears  and  love  of  change,  the  length  and  har- 
mony of  our  pastorate  furnish  an  example  alike  creditable  to  pastor 
and  people. 

The  object  of  our  assembling,  and  the  coming  of  our  friends  to  our 
assistance,  is  that  we  may  consider  together  all  the  way  that  God  has  led 
us,  and  to  thank  him  for  the  past,  and  invoke  his  blessing  and  guid- 
ance in  the  future,  as  well  as  do  honor  to  our  faithful  and  beloved 
pastor,  and  to  show  appreciation  of  his  arduous,  long,  and  loving  service. 

On  behalf  of  the  Ruling  Elders,  we  earnestly  ask,  that  in  the  future 
we  may  enjoy  in  an  increasing  degree  the  co-operation  of  the  people,  by 
which  we  may  be  enabled  more  fully  to  aid  and  relieve  the  untiring 
labors  ot  our  pastor. 

Ruling  Elders  too  often  do  little  because  little  is  required  of  them,  and 
little  is  required  of  them  because  they  do  little. 

On  behalf  of  the  Session  specially,  we  would  like  to  say  much  more 
than  time  permits,  and  merely  suggest  a  few  thoughts,  which  from  our 
standpoint  we  submit  for  the  earnest  consideration  of  all.  One  is, 
that  while  we  should  rejoice  with  thanksgiving  in  the  confidence  that 
many  souls  have  been  gathered  here,  who  will  contribute  to  the  lustre 
of  the  crown  of  our  glorious  Redeemer,  we  may  all  be  humbled  in  view 
of  the  comparatively  little  that  has  been  done  in  our  day  in  aid  of  the 
pastor  in  evangelical  work  in  the  church  and  in  the  community.    Most 


44  SECOND  UNITED  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH. 

earnestly  we  hope  that  each  member  of  the  congregation  will  feel  that 
there  is  a  personal  obligation  resting  on  him  or  her  to  fill  efficiently 
some  post  in  our  Lord's  work,  both  in  the  church  and  in  the  community. 

If  time  permitted,  and  the  characteristic  modesty  of  our  pastor  and 
his  exceptionally  efficient  help-mate  would  allow  it,  and  if  it  were  neces- 
sary in  their  presence,  we  would  delight  to  pay  some  just  tribute  to  their 
united  efficiency  in  the  Christian  work  of  the  church  and  community, 
because  we  know  that  much  of  our  success  is  justly  attributable,  even  in 
the  financial  as  well  as  the  other  interests  of  the  congregation,  to  the 
laborious  work  and  hearty  co-operation  of  Mrs.  Dales. 

In  conclusion,  let  us  all  give  good  heed  to  the  word  of  God  which 
has  been  preached  unto  us,  being  confident  our  honored  pastor  can  have 
no  greater  joy  than  to  hear  that  his  children  walk  in  the  truth. 


Mr.  James  D.  Ferguson,  a  son  of  one  of  the  former 
Elders  of  the  Church,  read  the  following,  from  the  Board 
of  Trustees: — 

The  congregation,  at  its  annual  meeting  in  January  last,  having  pro- 
vided for  a  Memorial  Meeting  to  commemorate  the  forty-first  year  of 
the  service  of  our  pastor,  the  Trustees  have  directed  the  following  paper 
to  be  read  upon  this  occasion,  and  placed  upon  their  minutes: 

We,  as  a  body,  join  heartily  with  our  fellow-members  of  the  church 
in  congratulating  our  beloved  pastor,  that  he  and  we  have  been  favored 
together  by  the  good  hand  of  God  for  so  many  years  in  having  him 
minister  unto  us  of  the  things  concerning  salvation,  and  that  his  labors 
and  prayers  have  been  so  manifestly  blessed  by  the  Holy  Spirit.  We 
rejoice  that  his  ministry  has  been  so  acceptable  and  full  of  good  works 
to  all  who  have  been  under  its  influence,  so  that  children's  children 
to  the  third  generation  have  risen  up  to  call  him  blessed. 

Under  his  fostering  care  we  have  grown  from  the  feeblest  beginnings 
until  we  have  become  one  of  the  largest  churches  of  our  United  Presby- 
terian body. 

We  are  free  from  all  encumbrance  of  debt — owing  no  man  anything 
— and  have  been  enabled  to  contribute  liberally  to  the  Boards  of  our 
church  and  to  other  religious  and  benevolent  objects.  Our  growth  has 
been  steady  and  constant,   sufi'ering  at   no  time  any  material  check  or 


SECOND  UNITED  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 


45 


hindrance.  In  all  our  relations,  we  have  been  favored  with  harmony 
and  united  effort  for  the  prosperity  of  Zion,  and  the  evidences  are  all 
around  us  that  the  blessing  has  not  been  withheld. 

We  fervently  and  heartily  congratulate  you  here  pu^icly,  dear  pastor, 
that  we  are  thus  permitted  to  rejoice  together  at  the  goodness  and  faith- 
fulness of  God,  and  we  join  our  prayers  with  those  of  all  our  people 
that  goodness  and  mercy  may  still  continue  to  follow  you  and  your 
labors  until  we  shall  all  stand  together,  pastor  and  people,  among  the 
redeemed,  in  the  church  above. 


LETTERS. 


Rev.  Dr.  Forsyth,  the  first  Pastor  of  the  Church,  sent 
the  following  letter: 

U.  S.  Military  Academy,  West  Point,  N.  Y. 

February  21,  1881. 
My  Dear  Dr.  Dales: 

It  is  a  bitter  disappointment  to  me  that  I  cannot  be  with  you  to  join 
in  the  interesting  commemorative  exercises  of  to-morrow  evening,  in 
consequence  of  a  broken  arm  not  yet  restored  to  its  normal  state,  and  a 
severe  cold.  How  I  long  to  look  upon  the  face  of  my  dear  old  church 
— I  cannot  say  my  old  people,  for,  with  very  few  exceptions,  as  our 
Moravian  friends  say,  they  "have  gone  home,"  and  are  now  at  rest  with 
Christ.  But  while  church  members  die  or  disappear,  the  church  lives, 
so  if  I  take  any  part  in  your  meeting,  it  must  be  "by  letter,"  and  not 
in  "bodily  presence." 

Well,  if  I  were  with  you,  I  presume  thai  my  share  would  be  to  give  you 
my  recollections  of  the  church,  previous  to  the  time  when  you  entered 
into  my  poor  labors.  I  supplied  the  church  some  three  months  before 
1  was  ordained  and  installed  as  Pastor.  We  first  met  in  the  school-room 
of  the  late  Mr.  J.  P.  Engles,  in  Sansom  street,  which  was  about  the  size 
of  your  old  parlor  in  Filbert  street,  and,  at  first,  if  my  congregation  had 
been  doubled,  each  one  would  have  had  plenty  of  elbow  room.  Indeed, 
for  the  first  month — April — it  seemed  as  if  Nature  intended  to  extinguish 
uswith  deluges  of  rain.  All  through  the  week,  from  Monday  until  Saturday 


46  SECOND  UNITED  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

evening,  we  had  beautiful  weather,  but  on  Sabbath  down  came  the  rain, 
with  the  apparently  accumulated  strength  of  a  whole  week.  I  was  a  really 
inexperienced  youth,  and  my  people  (I  will  mention  their  names  pres- 
ently) were  few  \^  number,  but  they  were  animated  by  a  truly  heroic 
spirit.  They  were  determined  to  re-establish  in  Philadelphia  an  Asso- 
ciate Reformed  Church,  and  they  did  it.  A  chureh  which  has  been  for 
many  a  year  and  continues  until  this  day,  strong  in  numbers  and  in  in- 
fluence. 

Let  me  give  you  the  names  of  those  who  formed  that  little  church  in  the 
school-room.  They  were  Mr.  and  Mrs.  J.  P.  Ramsey,  Mrs.  Lind,  their 
sister,  and  Mr.  M.  Lind,  her  step-son.  Mr.  Ramsay  you  never  knew,  but 
his  memory  should  be  ever  warmly  cherished  by  your  church.  He  was 
one  of  the  loveliest  men  with  whom  I  have  ever  been  acquainted.  He 
was  then  in  the  grasp  of  that  disease  which  in  a  few  months  terminated 
his  useful  life.  But  his  zeal  and  energy  were  unabated,  and  I  have  some- 
times thought  that  but  for  him  the  Church  would  have  ceased  to  be.  Then 
there  were  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Dunlap  and  their  son  Robert,  and  daughters— one 
of  whom,  my  dear  and  valued  friend,  you  ought  to  know  and  value  more 
than  any  other  man, — Mr.  and  Mrs.  Thos.  H.  Dickson,  McKee,  Julian, 
David  Stuart  (afterwards,  and  for  many  years  one  of  the  princely  mer- 
chants of  Liverpool),  dear  old  father  Black,  and  some  others  whose 
names  escape  me  at  this  moment.  I  am  a  poor  hand  at  remembering 
names,  but  their  faces  I  vividly  see. 

In  the  following  May  or  June — I  am  not  certain  which — we  removed 
into  the  little  Grace  Church,  Eleventh  street  above  Vine,  which  had  been 
occupied  by  the  congregation  of  which  I  think  the  venerable  Dr.Suddards 
is  still  rector.  There  our  congregation  soon  grew  in  numbers,  especially 
in  the  evening,  when  I  had  regularly  among  my  hearers  members  of 
Dr.  Boardman's,  and  of  my  venerated  friend  Dr.  S.  B.Wylie's.  Two  days 
after  my  ordination  my  dear  friend  Mr.  Ramsey  entered  into  his  rest, 
and  his  funeral  was  the  first  at  which  1  officiated,  assisted  by  Mr.  VV.  L. 
McCalla  and  Dr.  John  Breckinridge  in  the  burial  ground  beside  the 
old  Scots  Church,  in  Spruce  street.  I  was  then  boarding  in  a  good 
old  Orthodox  Quaker  family  in  the  lower  part  of  Arch  street,  with  Mc- 
Kee, Julian,  David  Stuart,  and  I  think  our  dear  friend  Geo.  H.  Stuart, 
who  was  then,  as  he  is  now  a  member  of  Dr.  Wylie's  church.  I  thought 
that  our  enterprise  was  buried  in  Mr.  Ramsey's  grave.  But  a  day  or 
so  afterwards,  I  went  into  McKee's  room — if  the  house  is  standing,  1 


SECOND  UNITED  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH  47 

could  show  you  the  very  room  and  spot  where  the  interview  occurred 
— I  said  to  him,  "  Well,  what  is  to  be  done?  "  "Done?  "  said  he, 
"why  the  church  is  to  go  on,  and  if  it  is  necessary  I  will  support  it  my- 
self." He  would  have  done  it,  but  he  was  sustained  by  dear  Julian,  who 
had  an  indomitable  courage,  though  to  hear  him  talk  you  would  have 
said  that  he  was  a  doubting  Thomas.  O,  how  I  loved  those  men  ! 
Their  memory  is  as  dear  to  me  as  if  they  had  been  my  own  brothers. 
And  let  me  here  say  that  the  names  Ramsey,  Dunlap,  McKee  and 
Julian  deserve  to  be  preserved  in  memorial  tablets  on  the  walls  of  your 
Race  Street  Church,  for  I  am  persuaded  that  without  them  that  church 
never  would  have  existed. 

After  we  removed  to  the  little  Grace  Church,  both  the  church  and 
congregation  grew  in  numbers.  There  were  some  who  were  simply 
pew  holders  of  whom  I  have  a  distinct  remembrance,  among  whom 
were  Dr.  Moore,  long  at  the  head  of  the  Mint,  Mrs.  Moore  and  her 
venerable  mother,  Mrs.  Patterson,  the  widow  of  the  first  director  of 
the  Mint,  Dr.  R.  Patterson  ;  Mr.  Sheepshanks,  of  Vine  street,  and  his 
mother-in-law,  Mrs.  Spencer,  the  daughter  of  one  of  the  early  pastors 
of  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church. 

My  first  marriage  ceremony  was  that  of  my  dear  friends,  McKee  and 
Julian.  It  was  for  me  a  tremendous  business,  and  in  order  to  make 
sure  that  the  affair  would  be  rightly  done,  I  think  that  I  must  have 
bound  all  the  chairs  in  my  room  half  a  dozen  times. 

I  do  not  know  how  diligent  you  have  been,  my  dear  brother,  in 
family  visitation,  but  1  doubt  whether  you  have  ever  come  up  to  my 
measure.  I  had  then  no  wife  either  to  help  or  to  bother  me,  and  at  least 
every  month — I  think  even  more  frequently — I  saw  all  the  families 
under  my  care. 

There  are  two  churches  far  dearer  to  my  heart  than  any  others  with 
which  I  have  been  or  ever  can  be  associated.  They  are  yours,  and 
Union  Church,  Newburgh,  of  each  of  which  I  was  the  first  pastor.  My 
prayer  for  you  and  your  dear  people  is,  that  you  may  be  spared  to  each 
other  for  many  years  to  come — at  least  to  celebrate  your  semi-centennial. 
If  it  were  proper,  in  any  case,  to  envy  anybody,  I  feel  as  if  I  could 
envy  you  ;  but,  no.  I  give  thanks  to  our  dear  Lord  and  Master,  that 
you  have  been  spared  to  labor  with  such  signal  success  in  one  field. 
My  prayer  for  my  old  church  and  your  dear  people  is,  "  Let  thy  work 
appear  unto  thy  servants,  and  thy  glory  unto   their  children  ;  and  let 


48  SECOND  UNITED  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

the  beauty  of  the  Lord  our  God  be  upon  us,  and  establish  thou  the 
work  of  our  hands  upon  us  ;  yea,  the  work  of  our  hands  establish  thou 
it."  Believe  me,  affectionately  yours, 

JOHN  FORSYTH. 


Letter  from  Rev.  Dr.  J.  D.  Gibson: 

South  Kortright,  N.  Y.,  February  16,  188 1, 
Rev.  Dr.  Dales,  D.  D. 

My  dear  Brother  :  Your  letter  of  the  nth  inst.,  inviting  me  to  be 
present  at  the  meeting  to  be  held  by  your  people  on  Tuesday  next,  for 
the  purpose  of  commemorating  the  things  of  the  past,  in  their  ecclesias- 
tical history,  which  ought  not  to  be  forgotten,  was  duly  received. 
Thanks  for  the  favor. 

My  first  emotion  on  reading  it  was  most  pleasurable.  1  almost  fan- 
cied myself  already  upon  the  ground  with  you  in  Philadelphia,  and  that 
we  were  going  back  together  to  revisit  the  scenes  of  our  enrly  days  in 
the  dear  old  Seminary  at  Newburgh — to  wend  our  way  once  more  with 
Hebrew  Bible  or  Greek  Testament  under  our  arm — to  sit  at  ihe  feet  of 
that  great  and  good  man.  Dr.  McCarrell,  and,  after  the  recitation,  to 
have  him  clasp  us  in  his  arms  until  we  felt  in  every  nerve  that  he  loved 
us  and  that  we  loved  him  ;  or  it  might  be  to  go  down  to  the  basement 
of  Union  Church  and  listen  once  more  to  those  rich  and  scholarly  lec- 
tures upon  ecclesiastical  history,  delivered  by  Prof.  Forsyth  ;  and  that 
having  started  at  that  never-to-be-forgotten  point,  we  would  talk  of  the 
forty  years'  journey  which  you  and  1  have  made,  during  which  we  have 
had  the  bread  of  heaven  to  eat,  and  have  drunk  water  from  the  rock. 

But  after  all,  I  have  to  say,  I  cannot  go  to  your  meeting,  and  I  am 
very  sorry.  May  the  blessing  of  the  God  of  Israel  rest  largely  upon 
you  and  your  people.     Yours  in  the  best  bonds, 

JOHN  D.  GIBSON. 


Rev.  George  Patton,  for  many  years  a   member  of  the 

conoreoation,  wrote : 

Rochester,  N.  Y.  ,  February  ij,  1881. 
Rev.  J.  B.  Dales,  D.  D 

My  dear  Pastor  :     I  never  feel  like  beginning  a  letter  to  you  in  any 
other  vv'ay ;   for  though  I  have  been  a  pastor  myself  for  twenty-five  years. 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL    MEMORIAL.  49 

I  feel  as  if  you  were  still  my  pastor.     If  we  were  near  you,  my  wife  and 
myself  would  advise  with  you  as  we  did  in  the  years  gone  by. 

I  wish  we  could  be  with  you  on  the  2 2d,  but  our  duties  here  require 
that  we  forego  the  pleasure  of  gathering  with  others  in  the  dear  old 
church  home. 

So  the  Lord  has  granted  you  the  great  privilege  of  being  the  pastor  of 
one  flock  for  over  forty  years.  What  a  history  must  be  in  that  short 
sentence — "  a  pastor  for  forty  years."  How  many  joys  and  sorrows? 
how  many  trials  and  blessings  ?  how  many  have  been  gathered  into  the 
church  on  earth  ?  how  many  have  gone  home  to  glory  ? 

I  recall  such  names  as  Dunlap,  Julian,  Dickson,  Ferguson,  Moore, 
Hemphill,  McElroy,  Taylor,  James  H.  Dales,  McLeod,  Braden,  and 
many  others. 

I  am  amazed  when  I  think  that  so  many  ^re  in  heaven.  Is  it  not  a 
delightful  thought,  as  we  are  growing  old,  to  know  we  have  more  friends 
in  heaven  than  on  earth? 

It  is  now  more  than  thirty-five  years  since  we  first  met.  I  was  then  a 
boy.  I  cannot  write  the  history  of  those  years,  yet  they  pass  before  me 
like  a. panorama,  and  the  thought  of  my  heart  is,  God  bless  John  B. 
Dales. 

You,  my  dear  pastor,  first  led  me  to  hope  that  I  might  enter  the 
ministry.  If  I  can  fix  any  one  time  when  I  felt  specially  called  to  it,  it 
was  while  hearing  you  preach  from  the  words,  "Whom  shall  I  send,  and 
who  will  go  for  us?"  in  the  old  church  on  Thirteenth  street.  Never 
shall  I  forget  that  night.  I  can  see  you  and  hear  you  yet.  For  twenty- 
five  years  you  have  been  preaching  Christ  through  one  whom  God  helped 
you  deeply  to  impress. 

You  know  what  followed.  Through  those  long  and  sometimes  dark 
years  of  preparation  you  were  ray  faithful  friend    and  adviser. 

You  helped  to  license  me  to  preach  the  gospel.  You  were  with  me 
at  my  first  communion  in  the  dear  old  church  of  Seneca,  N.  Y.  You  pro- 
nounced the  words  by  which  I  obtained  one  of  the  most  faithful  wives 
any  man  ever  had.  Dear  pastor,  it  will  soon  be  thirty  years  since  we 
parted.  We  shall  not  likely  see  much  of  each  other  in  this  world,  but 
I  believe  we  shall  all  be  yet  joined  together  above.  God  bless  you  and 
your  family,  and  the  dear  old  church.  May  the  peace  of  God  rest  with 
you  now  and  forever.  Yours  in  Christ, 

GEORGE  PATTON. 


50  SECOND  UNITED  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

Letter  from  Rev.  Dr.  Scouller : 

Newville,  Pa.,  February  ig,  1881. 

My  dear  Brother  :  I  am  greatly  obliged  to  you  for  your  kind  invi- 
tation to  attend  your  memorial  service  on  Tuesday  next.  It  would  cer- 
tainly afford  me  much  pleasure  to  do  so,  and  thus  turn  back  the  shadow 
upon  the  dial  for  tlie  last  third  of  a  century.  But  it  cannot  be.  You 
\no\y  now  I  am  dry-docked  here,  without  the  prospect  of  very  extensive 
repairs. 

I  have— and  good  reason  to  have — more  than  ordinary  interest  in 
both  you  and  your  congregation.  And  I  find  that,  as  I  grow  old,  my 
thoughts  and  affections  turn  more  frequently  and  more  tenderly  towards 
the  days  and  the  companions  of  my  youth.  The  memories  of  forty 
years  ago  are  fresh  and  greener  than  those  of  last  year. 

In  1844  I  was  planted  down  by  your  side  as  your  first  co-presbyter 
and  fellow-laborer  in  your  city  ;  and  when  we  separated,  I  went  directly 
to  your  childhood's  old  home  to  become  the  pastor  of  your  father  and 
mother,  and  brothers  and  sister.  I  have  been  with  you  in  many  scenes 
and  seasons  of  labor  and  of  enjoyment,  and  I  have  been  with  you  in 
the  hour  of  sore  bereavement,  and  performed  the  last  sad  ministerial 
rites  over  the  dust  of  a  beloved  wife.  Our  intercourse  in  person  and 
by  letter  has  been  frequent,  continuous  and  pleasant.  And  now,  after 
God  has  given  to  you  an  abundant  harvest,  and  is  giving  you  a  time  and 
place  to  turn  and  look  back,  and  review  the  way  by  which  He  has 
brought  you,  I  trust  and  pray  that  you  may  have  the  divine  assurance 
that  the  sins  and  faults  of  youth  are  forgiven,  and  that  your  life's  work 
has  been  accepted.  And  that  in  the  strength  of  this  assurance  you  may 
be  enabled  to  go  on  steadily  and  usefully  until  the  setting  sun  will  call 
you  home  to  that  rest  and  reward  which  wait  the  return  of  the  weary 
laborer. 

I  have  always  felt  a  kind  of  family  interest  in  your  congregation.  It 
was  founded  principally  by  Mrs.  McLandburgh,  my  father's  cousin,  and 
her  son-in-law,  James  P.  Ramsey,  and  William  McKee,  my  own  cousin. 
They,  together  with  a  few  others,  petitioned  the  Associate  Reformed 
Presbytery,  of  Big  Spring,  on  the  28th  of  April,  1829,  to  be  recognized 
as  a  mission  station,  and  to  be  supplied  with  preaching.  The  Presby- 
tery received  them,  and  for  a  year  granted  them  considerable  supply. 
But  the  growing  infirmities  of  the  venerable  Thomas  Smith  left  the 


SECOND  UNITED  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH.  5  I 

necessities  of  the  Presbytery  beyond  its  ability,  and  in  1830  this  mission 
station  was  transferred  to  the  Presbytery  of  New  York,  which  had  better 
facilities  for  cherishing  it.  And  there  it  remained  until  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia  in  1845. 

The  real  founder  of  the  congregation  was  Mrs.  Margaret  McLandburgh, 
a  woman  of  many  rare  excellencies,  and  whose  life  afforded  much  mate- 
rial for  an  interesting  biography.  Her  parents,  William  and  Margaret 
Young,  were  natives  of  Scotland.  Covenanters  in  religion,  married  in 
York  county.  Pa.,  most  probably  by  the  Rev.  John  Cuthbertson  ;  they 
had  a  family  of  five  sons  and  one  daughter,  and  they  both  died  in  1779, 
when  Margaret  was  but  two  years  old.  Her  mother's  only  brother,  my 
grandfather,  as  next  of  kin,  took  charge  of  the  orphaned  children,  and 
brought  up  the  baby  girl  as  the  companion  of  his  own  youngest  daughter, 
who  became  the  mother  of  William  McKea.  She  married  Henry  Mc- 
Landburgh, of  Adams  county,  and  soon  afterward  settled  in  Chillicothe 
while  Ohio  was  yet  a  territory.  As  a  wife,  she  did  her  part  nobly,  and 
when  left  a  widow  with  three  children,  she  took  charge  of  a  large  busi- 
ness, and  managed  it  with  skill  and  energy.  To  enlarge  that  business, 
she  moved,  in  1827  or  1828,  to  Philadelphia,  and  entered  into  the 
wholesale  trade.  While  thus  engaged,  she  was  instrumental  in  founding 
an  Associate  Reformed  Church  in  Philadelphia,  just  as  she  had  done 
nearly  thirty  years  before  in  Chillicothe.  After  returning  to  Chillicothe 
she  gave  up  her  business  to  her  sons,  and  gave  her  time  to  her  friends 
and  her  church,  and  good  books.  She  was  well  known  to  all  the  min- 
isters of  our  church  in  the  West,  for  she  was  given  to  hospitality,  and 
had  ample  means  with  which  to  sustain  it.  In  person,  tall  and  gaunt,  with 
a  mind  clear  and  strong,  she  was  ready  to  grapple  with  anything  in  business 
or  in  theology.  One  of  the  oldest  professors  of  theology  in  our  church 
supplied  in  Chillicothe  between  the  pastorates  of  Drs.  Claybaugh  and 
W.  T.  Findley,  and  he  told  me  that  after  a  pretty  lengthy  experience  as  an 
inmate  of  her  family,  he  stood  in  more  awe  of  her  theological  catechising 
than  of  any  of  all  his  acquaintances.  She  long  outlived  her  usefulness 
and  her  enioyment,  for  she  became  blind  and  deaf,  and  died  but  a  few 
years  ago  well  on  in  her  nineties. 

I  first  worshipped  in  your  congregation  in  April,  1839.  It  was  then 
vacant,  and  William  McKee  seemed  to  have  the  general  oversight,  for 
he  led  the  prayer-meeting,  visited  the  sick,  etc.  A  wonderful  man, 
who  did  a  life's  work,  and  yet  died  at  thirty.     Robert  Dunlap,   David 


52  SECOND  UNITED  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH. 

Stuart,  Alexander  H.  Julian,  Thomas  H.  Dickson,  Wm.  R.  Grant,  James 
Ferguson,  and  sundry  others  whom  I  knew  in  those  early  days,  are  all 
gone,  and  a  second  and  third  generation  have  taken  their  place. 

And  the  changes  in  the  city  are  as  great.  Going  to  my  field  of  labor, 
I  went  up  Chestnut  street  to  Schuylkill  Seventh  (I  think  you  call  it  Six- 
teenth now),  and  then  took  a  diagonal  course  southwest  across  Ritten- 
house  Square  to  Pine  and  Twentieth,  and  no  house  obstructed  my  way. 
Going  to  Kensington,  I  went  up  Ninth  to  above  Vine,  and  then  made  a 
bee-line  for  Front  and  Master.  All  this  had  to  be  done  on  foot,  for  a  few 
lumbering  omnibuses  running  east  and  west  on  a  few  of  the  central 
streets,  was  all  the  public  help  then  to  be  had.  If  you  wished  to  re- 
ceive or  post  a  letter,  a  visit  had  to  be  made  to  Dock  and  Third.  If 
you  wished  to  send  a  note  to  a  friend  in  another  part  of  the  city,  you 
could  either  employ  a  messenger,  or  give  to  ''  Blood's  Dispatch,^'  which 
generally  got  it  through  the  next  day.  If  you  wished  to  vote,  you  had 
to  go  to  the  State  House  and  fall  in  line  in  one  of  the  queues,  which 
sometimes  stretched  a  square  from  the  window.  And,  strange  as  it  may 
now  appear,  some  of  the  best  lawyers  and  heaviest  merchants  sat  in  the 
City  Councils,  and  even  went  to  the  State  Legislature,  and  a  few  watch- 
men took  charge  of  the  city  at  night.  But  enough  ;  all  these  things 
and  many  more  you  remember  well.  When  I  think  of  them,  and  con- 
trast them  with  the  present,  they  do  seem  like  a  long  time  ago.  And 
then  it  is  that  I  realize  that  you  and  I  are  growing  old. 

You  presided  at  my  ordination,  and  from  before  that  to  the  present 
we  have  been  friends,  and  in  many  things  co-workers.  I  thank  God 
that  you  have  been  spared  so  long,  and  been  permitted  to  do  so  much. 
I  cannot  sympathize  with  you  in  this  joyful  hour,  for  we  have  not  had 
similarity  of  experience  enough  to  do  that,  but  I  can  rejoice  with  you, 
and  ask  that  you  may  always  remain  a  stranger  to  the  prayer  which  has 
become  painfully  familiar  to  me — 

Make  me  of  use,  my  God  ! 

Let  me  be  not  forgot; 
A  broken  vessel  cast  aside — 

One  whom  thou  needest  not. 

Affectionately  yours, 

JAMES  B.  SCOULLER. 


SECOND  UNITED  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH.  53 

Letter  from  Rev,  Dr.  Cooper : 

175  Sandusky  St.,  Allegheny,  Pa.,  Feb.  ij.  1881. 
Rev.  J.  B.  Dales,  D.  D. 

My  dear  Brother;  I  am  in  receipt  of  your  kind  invitation  to  be 
with  your  congregation  in  celebrating,  on  the  2 2d  of  this  month,  the 
fortieth  anniversary  of  your  pastorate.  Since  the  invitation  came,  my 
mind  has  often  recurred  to  the  event,  and  it  is  with  a  sad  feeling  of  re- 
gret that  I  shall  not  likely  have  the  pleasure  of  manifesting  by  my  pres- 
ence the  deep  interest  which  I  feel  in  the  occasion. 

Memory  carries  me  back  through  forty  years  and  beyond  to  the  time 
when  we  first  met.  It  was  in  Philadelphia,  in  the  year  1839,  I  think. 
I  was  sitting  in  the  book  store  of  Mr.  William  S.  Young.  You  came  in, 
remarking  that  you  would  like  to  look  round  among  the  books,  which, 
I  remember,  you  were  cordially  invited  to  do.  1  am  not  certain  whether 
I  then  knew  you  to  be  a  licentiate  of  the  Associate  Reformed  Church.  Of 
one  thing  I  am  quite  certain,  namely,  that  that  was  the  first  time  of  which 
I  have  any  knowledge  of  having  met  you. 

Little  did  I  then  think,  dear  brother,  that  the  few  words  which,  with- 
out any  introduction  to  each  other,  we  then  exchanged,  were  the  begin- 
ning of  a  friendship  of  more  than  forty  years  standing,  and  not  only  a 
friendship,  but  a  fellowship  of  work  in  the  same  city  for  over  thirty 
years,  and  for  more  than  twelve  years  in  the  very  same  presbytery.  Nor 
is  this  all.  For  three  years  we  were  associated  together  as  editors  of  the 
Christian  Instructor,  in  company  with  that  dear  brother,  George  C. 
Arnold,  a  name  the  very  mention  of  which  cannot  fail  to  awaken  tender 
emotions  in  the  hearts  of  all  who  knew  him.  You,  dear  brother,  will 
not  forget  our  pleasant  hours  of  intercourse  with  him. 

I  cannot  overlook  the  fact  how  intimately  you  and  I  were  associated 
for  about  twelve  years  as  members  of  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions. 
Some  of  the  meetings  we  had  in  that  room  so  familiar  to  you  are  still 
fresh  in  my  mind.  How  anxious  were  oftentimes  the  hours  we  spent 
there.  I  can  see  before  me  the  countenances  of  the  brethren  as  we 
thought  of  the  pressing  calls  that  were  coming  to  us,  and  our  inability  to 
respond  to  these  calls,  and  the  little  ground  that  we  often  had  to  indulge 
the  hope  that  help  would  soon  come.  You  will  not  forget,  too,  my  dear 
brother,  how  often  the  Lord  rebuked  our  fears  by  sending  that  help  in 


54  SECOND  UNITED  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH. 

a  manner  and  from  a  source  of  which  we  sonietimes  had  little  or  no 
thought.  As  I  recall  to  mind  each  member  of  the  Board,  I  realize  the 
fact  that  three  of  them  have  gone  to  be,  as  we  trust,  with  the  Lord.  I 
refer  to  Brothers  Beveridge,  Arnold  and  Jackson. 

We  are  both  drawing  near  the  end  of  our  work.  Your  life  has  been 
one  of  incessant  service.  May  it  be  spared  many  years  in  the  work  that 
you  have  loved  so  well,  and  in  which  you  have,  by  the  grace  of  God, 
been  enabled  to  do  so  much  for  the  Master. 

May  this  relation,  which  has  been  of  such  long  standing,  never  be 
broken,  and  when  at  last  you  are  called  away,  may  those  of  the  dear 
people  whom  you  have  so  long  served  have  occasion  to  say : 

"  How  beautiful  it  is  for  man  to  die 
Upon  the  walls  of  Zion ;  to  be  called 
Like  a  watch-worn  and  weary  sentinel. 
To  put  his  armor  off  and  rest  in  heaven." 

Believe  me,  as  ever,  your  friend  and  brother, 

J.  T.  COOPER. 


Letter  from  George  H.  Stuart,  Esq., 

1339  Pine  St.,  Philad'a.,  February  22,  1881. 

My  dear  Friend:  I  have  been  very  poorly  all  this  month,  closely 
confined  to  the  house,  and  only  within  the  past  ^tvi  days  able  to  ride 
out  for  a  few  hours  during  the  early  part  of  the  day.  I  am  thus  very 
reluctantly  obliged  to  deny  myself  the  great  pleasure  I  had  anticipated, 
of  being  with  you  this  evening. 

The  fiftieth  anniversary  of  your  congregation,  and  the  fortieth  of  your 
own  most  successful  pastorate,  would  have  revived  many  precious  memo- 
ries, which  i^w,  if  any,  but  your  good  wife  and  myself  could  recall. 
Memory^  as  it  goes  back  to  the  early  days  of  the  little  faithful  flock  who 
worshipped  in  the  small  frame  building  on  Eleventh  street  above  Vine, 
recalls  at  this  distant  day  the  familiar  forms  of  Ramsey,  Dunlap,  McKee 
and  Julian,  who,  with  a  few  others,  laid  the  foundation  of  your  now 
prosperous  congregation,  and  out  of  which  many  others  have  grown. 
My  brother  David,  at  the  time  of  the  organization,  was  a  member  of  the 
First  Associate  Church,  on  W4lnut  street  above  Fourth,  then  under  the 
ministry  of  the  late  Dr.  Beveridge,  but  soon  afterwards,  as  the  intimate 


SECOND  UNITED  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH.  55 

personal  friend  of  Messrs.  McKee  and  Julian,  he  cast  in  his  lot  with 
your  congregation,  and  continued  with  you  until  his  removal  to  England 
in  1841. 

Your  predecessor  and  the  first  pastor  of  the  congregation,  the  Rev. 
John  Forsyth,  with  Messrs.  McKee,  Julian,  my  brother  and  myself,  all 
boarded  together  on  Arch  St. ,  south  side,  below  Third.  After  attending 
my  own  Church  and  Sabbath  School  at  the  corner  of  Eleventh  street  and 
Marble  alley,  under  the  pastorate  of  the  late  Dr.  Samuel  B.  Wylie,  I  seldom 
failed  to  hear  Mr.  Forsyth  in  the  evening,  and  many  of  Dr.  Wylie's  con- 
gregation also  attended,  and  thus  the  young  and  eloquent  pastor  was 
encouraged.  In  the  early  days  of  your  own  ministry,  I  was  often  a 
delighted  and  instructed  hearer,  and  have  watched  your  onward  and  suc- 
cessful ministry  until  you  are  now  the  oldest  Presbyterian  pastor  and  the 
third,  if  not  the  second  oldest  pastor  of  any  denomination  in  our  city  of 
so  many  churches. 

In  all  this  time,  what  changes  you  and  I,  my  dear  brother,  have  wit- 
nessed, both  in  church  and  State.  No  longer  now  is  there  need  for  the 
Young  Men's  Anti-Slavery  Society,  organized  on  evangelical  principles, 
mainly  by  the  young  men  of  your  Church  and  ours,  and  in  those  early 
days  it  cost  something  to  be  a  member  of  such  a  Society. 

But  I  must  not  enlarge,  for  time  would  fail  to  recount  all  that  memory 
calls  up  of  those  hallowed  days  which  I  spent  with  the  founders  of  your 
congregation,  and  especially  of  my  close  personal  relation  to  Messrs. 
McKee  and  Julian,  whose  memory  is  still  very  precious  to  me.  I  write 
this  in  weakness,  but  with  the  earnest  prayer  that  your  meeting  this 
evening  may  be  one  not  only  of  great  pleasure,  but,  better  still,  of  great 
blessing,  not  only  to  yourself  personally,  but  also  to  every  member  of 
your  beloved  flock.  Trusting  that  God,  in  his  Providence,  may  spare 
you  to  enjoy  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  your  pastorate,  I  remain, 

Yours  in  Christian  bonds, 

GEO.  H.  STUART. 


Letter  from  Rev.  Dr.  Shepherd : 

507  Brown  Street,  Phila.,  February  21,  1881. 

My  dear  Dr.  Dales :  I  regret  that  a  wedding  to-morrow  evening  will 
prevent  my  attendance  at  that  time  at  the  Church,  Race  street  below 
Sixteenth,   on  the  very  pleasant  and  quite  uncommon  occasion  of  the 


56  SECOND  UNITED  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH. 

fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  Second  United  Presbyterian  Church,  and 
the  fortieth  of  your  pastorate. 

To  your  people  and  yourself,  many  will  tender  congratulations ;  and 
for  your  people  and  yourself,  many  will  offer  prayers  that  God's  favor 
in  the  future  may  be  as  conspicuous  as  in  the  past,  but  from  none  of 
your  friends  will  come  heartier  congratulations  and  prayers  than  from 
myself. 

With  thanks  to  the  Committee  of  Invitation,  and  with  strong  affection 
for  yourself,  I  am,  my  dear  brother,  very  truly  yours,  etc., 

THOMAS  JAMES  SHEPHERD, 

Pastor  for  twenty-nine  years  nearly  of  the   First   Presbyterian  Church, 
Northern  Liberties,  Philadelphia. 


Letter  from  S.  C.  Huey,  Esq. : 

Philadelphia,  February  i8,  1881. 
Rev.  J.  B.  Dales,  D.  D. 

My  dear  Sir:  I  have  just  received  a  kind  uivitation — the  anniver- 
sary of  your  long  pastorate.  I  regret  that  I  am  under  engagement,  to 
be  absent  Monday,  Tuesday,  Wednesday  and  Thursday.  Accept  my 
congratulations  that  the  good  Lord  has  spared  you  so  long  to  perform 
so  much  work,  and  do  it  so  well. 

I  pray  God  to  continue  your  useful  life  for  many  more  years  to  come; 
to  bless  you  in  your  person,  family  and  work,  and  to  cause  his  face  to 
shine  upon  and  do  you  good.  This  is  the  fervent  prayer  of  your  old 
parishioner, 

SAM'L  C.  HUEY. 


Letter  from  the  Rev.  Dr.  McLaren. 

MoRRiSTOWN,  N.  J.,  February  21,  1881. 
Dear  Brother  Dales:  Your  favor  of  the  nth  inst.,  after  a  little  delay 
at  Princeton,  reached  me  in  this  place,  where  I  am  sojourning.  I  should 
be  glad  to  meet  you  and  your  congregation  on  an  occasion  so  interesting 
and  honorable  to  you  both  as  that  of  to-morrow  cannot  fail  to  be.  It 
is  a  jubilee,  a  harvest-home  to  your  Church  and  to  you.  Its  fifty  years 
of  organic  church  life  and  your  forty  years  of  pastoral  episcopate  over 


SECOND  UNITED  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH. 


57 


it,  conjointly  with  an  honored  eldership,  will  be  reviewed  with  emotions 
various  in  kind  and  degree,  and  will,  by  faith  and  hope,  be  joyously 
associated  with  their  gracious  results  on  the  future  of  this  world  and  the 
world  to  come. 

My  personal  acquaintance  with  both  pastor  and  congregation  began 
before  the  relation  was  constituted  which  has  been  prolonged  for  so 
many  years.  It  was  mainly  enjoyed  in  those  times,  when  successively 
I  Avas  accustomed  to  meet  among  the  elders  Messrs.  Ramsey,  Dunlap, 
McKee,  Julian,  Huey,  &c. 

The  reminiscenses  of  more  recent  times,  as  well  as  of  the  earlier,  are 
fresher  in  others'  minds  than  in  mine,  and  I  write  this  note  only  to  con- 
gratulate both  pastor  and  church  on  their  prolonged  and  happy  period 
of  laboring  together  in  the  cause  of  Christ. 

I  cannot  with  seriousness,  my  dear  brother,  wish  you  a  repetition  of 
your  forty  years  in  the  pastorate,  but  I  do  heartily  wish  and  pray  that 
the  church  may  have  many  returns  of  their  fifty,  enjoying,  professing 
and  maintaining  the  same  faith,  order  and  piety  that  have  been  their 
golden  badge  and  riches  in  the  time  past. 

Yours  sincerely, 

JOHN  F.  McLaren. 


The  following  telegram  was  also  received : 

Kansas  City,  Mo.,  February  22,  1881. 

"Sincere  congratulations  to  Pastor  and  Congregation.     Read  Psalm 
cxxii." 

WM.  GETTY. 


